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University of tlie State oi New Yori( Bulletin 

Entered as second-class matter August 2, 1913, at the Post Office at Albany, N. Y., under the 

act of August 24, 1912 

Published fortnightly 



No. 566 



ALBANY, N. Y. 



May I, 1914 



Division of Vocational Schools 
VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 

PREPARED BY 

ARTHUR D. DEAN 

Chief, Division of Vocational Schools 

REPRINTED FROM THE TENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT 



PAGE 

Operation of the former law i 

Spirit and purpose of the new law 3 

Principles underlying state aid. . . 3 

Meaning of vocational education . 4 
Controlling purpose of vocational 

education 4 

Powers of the Cominissioner of 

Education 5 

Preliminary investigation 6 

Essentials in organization 8 

Courses of study 10 

Certain uniform requirements. ... 11 
Manner of conducting vocational 

schools II 

Types of schools 13 



PAGE 

General industrial school 13 

Trade schools 20 

Need for schools of craftsmanship 23 
Schools of agriculture, mech^ic 

arts and homemaking 25 

Part-time or continuation schools. 33 

Evening vocational schools 48 

Drawing and handwork 58 

State conferences 65 

Training of teachers for vocational 

instruction 67 

Types of cooperation now exist- 
ing 70 

The movement for vocational 

guidance 72 



ALBANY 

THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 
1914 

Ti7r-Mri4-i8oo 



Monograph 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

Regents of the University 
With years when terms expire 

191 7 St Clair McKelway M.A. LL.D. D.C.L. L.H.D. 

Chancellor Brooklyn 
1926 Pliny T. Sexton LL.B. LL.D. Vice Chancellor Palmyra 

1915 Albert Vander Veer M.D. M.A. Ph.D. LL.D. Albany 

1922 Chester S. Lord M.A. LL.D. New York 

1918 William Nottingham M.A. Ph.D. LL.D. - - Syracuse 

192 1 Francis M. Carpenter Mount Kisco 

1923 Abram L Elkus LL.B. D.C.L. New York 

1924 Adelbert Moot Biiffalo 

1925 CharlesB. Alexander M.A. LL.B. LL.D. Litt.D. Tuxedo 

1919 John Moore Elmira 

1920 Andrew J. Shipman M.A. LL.B, LL.D. New York 

1916 Walter Guest Kellogg B.A. Ogdensburg 

President of the University 
and Commissioner of Education 

John H. Finley M.A. LL.D. 

Assistant Commissioners 

Augustus S. Downing M.A. L.H.D. LL.D. For Higher Education 
Charles F. Wheelock B.S. LL.D, For Secondary Education 
Thomas E. Finegan M.A. Pd.D. LL.D. For Elementary Education 

Director of State Library 

James I. Wyer; Jr, M.L.S. 

Director of Science and State Museum 

John M. Clarke Ph.D. D.Sc. LL.D. 

Chiefs of Divisions 

Administration, George M. Wiley M.A. 

Attendance, James D. Sullivan 

Educational Extension, William R. Watson B.S 

Examinations, Harlan H. Horner B.A. 

History, James A. Holden B.A. 

Inspections, Frank H. Wood M.A. 

Law, Frank B. Gilbert B.A. 

Library School, Frank K. Walter M.A. M.L.S. 

Public Records, Thomas C. Quinn 

School Libraries, Sherman Williams Pd.D. 

Statistics, Hiram C. Case 

Visual Instruction, Alfred W. Abrams Ph.B. 

Vocational Schools, Arthur D. Dean D.Sc. 

JliW 8 1914 



I Oniversity oi the State ol New York Bulletin 

S Entered as second-class matter August 2, 1913, at the Post OflBce at Albany, N. Y., under 
•\ the act of August 24, 1912 

%^ Published fortnightly 



No. 566 ALBANY, N. Y. May i, 1914 

VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 

THE OPERATION OF THE FORMER LAW 

In May 1908, the State Legislature passed a law giving State 
aid to industrial and trade schools. Two years before Massachu- 
setts by a similar enactment had anticipated the need for state- 
aided vocational instruction. In 1910 New York amended its 
Education Law to include State aid for schools of agriculture, 
mechanic arts and homemaking. The amount of aid given to the 
four types of instruction — industrial, trade, agricultural and home- 
making — was small in comparison with the neighboring state of 
Massachusetts. It was felt, however, that it was better to try out 
the law as it stood, in order to ascertain whether there was any 
real demand for vocational instruction and whether the local com- 
munities would take the initiative and start these schools with 
even the slight financial encouragement offered by the State. The 
success of the new venture proved that the localities which inaugu- 
rated this new type of instruction really desired these vocational 
schools and were not merely seeking to avail themselves of an ad- 
ditional source of State aid. 

Meanwhile, an experience of nearly five years showed that the 
law of 1908 with its amendment of 19 10 handicapped the local com- 
munities in three respects : First, the State aid given was not 
sufficient to meet adequately the necessary charges for maintenance 
and equipment of a type of instruction necessarily more expensive 
than general education ; second, the wording of the law required a 
" separately and independently organized school consisting of at 
least twenty-five pupils " — a condition which could not be met in 
the smaller communities ; third, no provision had been made for 
evening vocational schools and part-time or continuation schools — 
types of instruction which more than any other strike at the very 
roots of a most useful and profitable education for industrial 
workers. 

Other states had enacted laws relating to vocational instruc- 
tion and New York, which formerly had taken a position of 

[3] 



4 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

conspicuity and leadership in the country, was relegated to the rear. 
New York had, however, the advantage which always accompanies 
experience and was ready to amend its existing law with intelli- 
gence and promptness. 

IMPORTANT AMENDMENTS 

In 1913 amendments to the Education Law providing for ad- 
ditional aid, new types of vocational instruction and important 
administration changes passed both legislative bodies without a 
dissenting vote. These amendments included the following: first, 
the authorization of part-time or continuation schools in which 
instruction shall be given in the trades and in industrial, agricultural 
and homemaking subjects, and which shall be open to pupils over 
14 years of age who are regularly and lawfully employed during a 
part of the day in any useful employment or service. The subjects 
of study shall be supplementary to the practical work carried on in 
such employment or service. Second, the authorization of evening 
vocational schools in which instruction shall be given in the trades 
and in industrial, agricultural and homemaking subjects, and which 
shall be open to pupils over 16 years of age, who are regularly and 
lawfully employed during the day. These schools provide instruc- 
tion in subjects related to the practical work carried on in such 
employment, but schools providing instruction in homemaking shall 
be open to all women over 16 years of age who are employed in any 
capacity during the day. Third, the word " school," as used in this 
article, shall include any department or course of instruction estab- 
lished and maintained in a public school for any of the purposes 
specified in this section. Fourth, an enrolment of at least fifteen 
pupils constitutes a vocational school unit. Fifth, an increase in 
the amount of State aid so that a school or separately organized 
department of vocational instruction may receive a sum equal to 
two-thirds of the salary paid to the first teacher of such instruc- 
tion and an additional sum ecjual to one-third of the salary paid to 
each additional teacher employed exclusively in vocational instruc- 
tion. 

As a result of national agitation for state-aided vocational schools 
by the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education 
— a society headed by Honorable W. C. Redfield, Secretary of 
Commerce, and including in its membership many prominent labor 
leaders, manufacturers, educators and social workers — seven other 
states have enacted laws relating to these schools. All these laws 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 5 

are uniform in their intent and purpose and similar in their scope. 
It is estimated that ten more states will pass similar laws at the 
next convening of their legislatures. 

THE SPIRIT AND PURPOSE OF THE NEW LAW 
The aforementioned amendments and the legislative acts of these 
states have encouraged the entire State to renewed activity in pro- 
moting vocational schools. By the spirit as well as by the letter 
of the New York law, the Commissioner of Education is required 
to enter actively upon the task of securing vocational instruction 
which will prepare the young people of the State to meet success- 
fully the demands of shop, farm and home. The wisdom of such 
action is reenforced by the experiences of sister states as well as 
by the results already attained in this State. 

The spirit and purpose behind the definite plans and policies out- 
lined by the wording of the law and in the rules and regulations of 
the Commissioner of Education with reference to the organization 
and conduct of such instruction are based upon the theory that the 
local community and the State have entered into a joint partner- 
ship for the purpose of securing an effective scheme of vocational 
training such as will justify State aid under the law. 

The amount of the aid over and above the amount apportioned 
toward the support of general education clearly implies that pro- 
visions for vocational instruction have been written into the Educa- 
tion Law of the State for distinct and definite purposes apart from 
those of general education. Vocational education dilifers from the 
general education of the ordinary school in that its controlling pur- 
pose is to fit its pupils to a greater or less degree for certain forms 
of profitable employment in the industries, in agriculture and in 
the household. 

PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING STATE AID 
It may be well to inquire why state aid is necessary to stimvilate 
and encourage communities to carry on vocational education. It 
is evident that there is a marked tendency everywhere in American 
education toward an increase in the amount of state aid for educa- 
tion. This help is being applied more and more to encourage and 
assist local communities to undertake new and necessary kinds of 
training serviceable to childhood. Grants in aid for local govern- 
ment for the support of vocational instruction are indispensable for 
the following reasons: first, for an equitable mitigation of the in- 



6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

equalities of burden; second, to secure effective authority for the 
necessary supervision and control by the state government; third, 
to encourage the kind of expenditure most desirable in the interest 
of the state and the community as a whole; fourth, to make it 
possible to attain anything like a universal enforcement of a mini- 
mum which the state has prescribed through standards set up by 
state educational authorities for promoting and maintaining the 
education of industrial workers, which is absolutely essential to the 
industrial supremacy of a state ; fifth, to pay the just share of the 
state in a kind of education which must always, comparatively 
speaking, be expensive and of state-wide benefit. 

MEANING OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

Vocational instruction as now provided for is that form of edu- 
cation the controlling purpose of which is to fit for profitable and 
efficient service in agriculture, trades, and industries, or occupa- 
tions connected with the household, and which is given to the in- 
dividual who has already indicated an occupational aim in life, which 
aim this particular form of training is designed to assist him to 
attain. 

Under the present law State aid may very properly be given to 
three types of vocational education : first, industrial education ; 
second, agricultural education ; third, household arts education. 

" Industrial education " means that form of vocational education 
which fits for the trades, crafts, and manufacturing pursuits, in- 
cluding the occupations for girls and women carried on in work- 
shops. 

"Agricultural education " means that form of vocational educa- 
tion which fits for the occupations connected with the tillage of the 
soil, the care of domestic animals, forestry, and other wage-earning 
or productive work on the farm or in the garden or greenhouse. 

" Household arts education " means that form of vocational edu- 
cation which fits for the business of homemaking. 

CONTROLLING PURPOSE OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION 

It is seen that the controlling purpose of establishing vocational 
instruction in a public school system is to fit persons for profitable 
employment. Such instruction is not primarily to be given with the 
idea of holding children in school. All short-comings of a scheme 
of general education are not to be corrected merely by establishing 
vocational schools. If certain methods of instruction prevalent in 
vocational education, such as correlation of subject matter, adapta- 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 7 

tion of instruction to the child's interests and needs, the use of 
smaller class units, and concrete activity work, are worthy of 
adoption as a part of general education, they should, contrary to 
the general impression, be taken over without expecting special 
State aid under an act of legislation which provided for vocational 
instruction. A vocational school, no more than any other public 
school, is not intended for naturally backward or defective children. 
It is an insult to labor and its workers to fill these schools with 
failures, abnormals, and child derelicts.^ Neither is it to be assumed 
that certain children are hand-minded and are therefore to attend 
a vocational school while those who appear to master the present 
textbook study are obviously book-minded and are to continue their 
schooling on traditional lines. It is reasonable to assume that all 
normal children are concrete-minded and that they can more success- 
fully master lines of study that relate to their experience, to their 
environment, and to their future needs. It is reasonable to expect 
that all children will acquire in their school life some practice in 
the activities connected with industry, agriculture or household 
arts. It is not reasonable to expect that the State can give special 
aid for instruction in these activities unless their dominant aim is 
preparation for successful wage-earning in the callings growing 
out of these activities. 

There is no intention to disparage the present instruction in the 
household, agricultural and manual arts as given in connection with 
general education. Undoubtedly the instruction in these subjects 
might be improved. It might correlate more closely with other 
school activities. It might connect itself with practical demands 
of shop, home and farm. It might be given more periods a week 
in the school program. It might be taught by specially prepared 
teachers. All these points might be accepted as helpful suggestions 
for improving this work. If a school system adopts these sugges- 
tions and even imitates the methods of instruction used in voca- 
tional schools in order that they may contribute to a more effective 
general education, it is clearly evident that such work can not re- 
ceive special State aid. Nevertheless, the only condition under 
which State aid may be given is when vocational instruction is 
given specifically and distinctly for definite preparation in the 
various callings of life from which the subjects of manual, house- 
hold and agricultural arts have been taken. 

1 " We oppose any inclination to make the vocational department a purga- 
tory for pupils backward or undesired in other classes. We desire that 
a place in the vocational school shall be evidence, by itself, of progress 
in scholarship." — New York State Federation of Labor. 



5 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

THE POWERS OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION 
To secure an allotment of State money for vocational instruc- 
tion, the schools, departments or courses of vocational instruction 
are required by law to meet the rules and regulations of the Com- 
missioner of Education governing organization, courses of study 
and conduct of instruction. These points will be taken up in order. 

PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION 

If the State has established the policy of forming a joint partner- 
ship with the local community for securing effective vocational 
training, it is the part of wisdom to investigate the need for such 
instruction before committing the two partners to an expense which 
may or may not be justified. It is suggested that a committee of 
citizens or a subcommittee of the school board be organized to 
investigate with a view of offering a practical contribution. This 
committee of inquiry should seek the cooperation of representative 
local agencies such as boards of trade, granges, trade unions, manu- 
facturers, and women's clubs. It should consider questions such 
as the dominant occupations to be served by the proposed school 
and whether they offer opportunity for skilled employment; the 
type of vocational work demanded and whether it is of the all-day, 
part-time or continuation order, or the evening school order ; the 
probable initial expenditure and the cost of maintenance. 

The Commissioner of Education offers the following suggestive 
topics through which this investigation may be made, and he will 
be predisposed to look askance upon the establishment of a school 
not founded upon the study of the character of vocational instruc- 
tion required in the community : 

SUGGESTIVE TOPICS FOR INVESTIGATION 

I School conditions: 

1 Number of pupils registered in elementary school. 

a What per cent leave school upon finishing the work of 

the sixth grade? 
b What per cent leave school during or upon finishing the 

work of the seventh year? 
c What per cent leave school during or upon completing 

the work of the eighth grade? 

2 Number of pupils registered in the high schools. 

a What per cent leave during the first year? 

b What per cent leave during the second year ? 

c What per cent leave during the third year? 

d What per cent are graduated from the high school? 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS Q 

3 Average number of employment certificates issued each 

year. (Based on a five-year record) 

4 What occupations did these youths enter? 

a Industrial. 

(i) Skilled. 

(2) Unskilled (factory). 

(3) Unskilled (messenger service, delivery boys, 

check girls, bundle boys, etc.) 
b Agricultural. 
c Commercial. 

Note : Were the positions secured the kind wanted ? 
Rate of pay? 

5 What were the reasons given for leaving school? 

a Economic. 

b Health. 

c Dissatisfaction with work offered. 

d " Wanted to go to work," etc. 

6 What special training does the school offer to prepare these 

boys and girls for special lines of activity? 

7 Attitude of the child worker toward vocational training. 

8 Attitude of parents toward vocational training. Would 

they send their children to vocational schools? 

II Industrial conditions: 

I List of the dominant industries in the community. 

a Number of skilled employees engaged in these indus- 
tries. Number of unskilled employees engaged in 
these industries. 

b What industries offer thorough apprenticeship train- 
ing? Specialized training? Technical or theoreti- 
cal training? 

c Number of youths 14 to 16 years of age engaged in 
these industries. Number of youths 16 to 18 years of 
age engaged in these industries. 

d Demand for skilled workers. 

e Attitude of employers toward vocational education. 
Are they willing to cooperate in the organization of 
some type of vocational school? Are they willing to 
pay graduates of vocational schools a higher rate of 
wage than those coming from the regular schools? 



10 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

2 List of skilled trades. 

a Number of workers engaged in each trade. Number 
of apprentices in each trade. Average number of 
apprentices engaged each year. 

b How are the apprentices trained? 

c Is trade nonseasonable ? Healthful? 

d Does trade offer opportunity for advancement? 

e Number of employees who take correspondence courses. 

/ Attitude of labor unions or employees toward voca- 
tional training. Are they willing to cooperate in de- 
veloping all-day, part-time or evening vocational 
schools ? Are they willing to grant graduates of vo- 
cational schools credit for apprenticeship time? 

ESSENTIALS IN ORGANIZATION 

Whatever may be the plan of organization suggested or required 
by the Commissioner of Education, it is to be borne in mind that 
the spirit behind any plan of organization submitted by the locality 
for his approval or any plan suggested to the community by him is 
based upon the principle that the vocational instruction is not to be 
mingled or confused with the work of other departments or courses 
even though it may include some element common to all depart- 
ments. The approval by the Commissioner of Education of an 
organization for a school of agriculture, mechanic arts and home- 
making in a small village does not imply that this organization is 
to be exactly duplicated in a city system of vocational instruction. 
The approval of each type of organization depends upon (a) the 
meeting of actual requirements of the Education Law on points 
of the law which allow no variation from its exact wording and 
intent and, (b) the meeting of reasonable rules or regulations of the 
Commissioner of Education which will administer the vocational 
instruction in a manner which reasonably guarantees that this in- 
struction has a distinct vocational purpose and a definite manner of 
approach to that purpose. 

In any organization purporting efficiently to establish and carry 
on vocational education for a community, adequate provisions 
should be made for : first, location ; second, equipment ; and third, 
instruction. 

LOCATION 

The location of a vocational school should be convenient for its 
special pupils and accessible by ordinary means of transportation. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS II 

Part-time or continuation schools should be in or near the industrial 
district. 

EQUIPMENT 

The equipment must be suitable and sufficient for the proposed 
work, and afford opportunities for practical experience in the oc- 
cupations for which the pupils are to be prepared. Obviously it 
is based upon the requirements of the local course of study and no 
uniform requirements can be imposed. 

PROVISION FOR INSTRUCTION 

Executive or administrative. There should be a recognized 
leader capable of directing the school activities, organizing coopera- 
tive enterprises, and intelligently adjusting affairs between the school 
and other agencies. The success or failure of vocational instruc- 
tion in the community will largely be determined by the efficiency of 
this administration. The viewpoint of the administrative officer 
toward educational, social, and economic questions should be tested. 
His executive ability, his academic preparation, and his ability to 
deal with people should be looked into thoroughly. 

Shop, farm, and home instruction. Shop, farm, and home in- 
struction should be kept in close relation to and accord with modern 
industrial i)ractice. To accomplish the aim of this phase of in- 
struction, the teacher must from experience be skilled in the voca- 
tion which he is teaching. He should be paid at least as much as 
he could earn in the field of production.^ He should engage in 
the vocation often enough and for periods of sufficient duration to 
retain the viewpoint of the worker. 

Technical instruction. The subject matter of technical instruc- 
tion should be directly related to : first, the shop or farm experience 
of the pupils ; second, the activities of the field of production. Shop 
mathematics, shop drawing, applied science, etc., are subjects which 
come under this head. Teachers should have an intimate knowledge 
of their subject gained through actual experience with the activity 
to which they are relating those technical subjects. 

Nontechnical instruction. The nontechnical instruction is in- 
directly related to the work outlined in the two preceding para- 
graphs. The instruction should be from the standpoint of the work- 
a-day world and so directed as to develop the interest of the pupils 

1 " We oppose the engagement of incompetent mechanics as instructors 
and insist that the salaries of competent men, shall at least be equal to the 
highest wages paid to journeymen in the trade represented by such in- 
structor." — New York State Federation of Labor. 



12 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

in liberal studies. The teacher should have the ability to select 
subject matter which has interest and value and the power to con- 
nect at every point the teaching of these liberal studies to the vital 
interests of the work-a-day world. 

THE TEACHER 

The most important factor in producing results is the teacher. 
The employment of competent teachers for the vocational instruc- 
tion merits important consideration and communities can not be 
too exacting in selecting these teachers. The lack of textbooks, 
traditions and precedents places great responsibility upon the 
teachers. 

It is well to distinguish between engaging a teacher who meets 
the approval of the Regents with reference to his general qualifica- 
tions as named in the Regents Rules, and the engaging of a teacher 
who will conduct the work in such a manner that at its completion 
it may be approved for State aid. The fact that his qualifications 
for a special certificate to teach in a vocational school have been 
approved and that he has been given a proper license, is no criterion 
that his work in the school will receive approval. Approval of the 
general qualifications of an applicant for a special certificate is a 
single act by which his eligibility for a given kind of employment 
in vocational instruction is established. But approval for the actual 
work of a teacher already employed is a matter which is determined 
after due inspection. 

As a member of a partnership, the State must insist upon satis- 
factory results and the establishment of the cooperative spirit 
between the state authorities and local agencies in deciding upon 
the qualifications of teachers for a particular service will often 
lead to an understanding of whether he should be nominated for 
the position by the local authorities. The state can not assume 
the responsibility which naturally and legally rests upon the com- 
munity, nor can it assume the functions of a teachers agency. 

COURSES OF STUDY 
It is not possible to present specific courses of study for the 
various kinds of vocational schools. The particular planning, in 
the first instance, of courses of study for each school should be 
left to the local authorities who shall submit their programs to the 
Commissioner of Education for revision and approval. The five 
classifications of types of vocational schools indicated in the law 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS I3 

make mention of the conditions of admission to each type and in 
some measure suggest the Hne of work to be pursued, or at least 
imposes certain boundaries about the courses of study. 

CERTAIN UNIFORM REQUIREMENTS 
From the experience already gathered as well as in accordance 
with the general theory of vocational instruction, it is clear that 
there are certain uniform requirements in the courses of study of 
all types of vocational schools. 

1 Pupils should be trained for the leading skilled occupations 
of the community. 

2 Pupils should be especially fitted for their intended occupations. 

3 Practical work should correlate with suitable technical teach- 
ing mentioned under 4. 

4 The schools should teach mathematics, drawing, science and 
related subjects, to an extent and in a way practically useful to 
the pupils in the particular occupations for which they are being 
trained. 

5 As nearly as school conditions will permit, the shop and labora- 
tory work should be like that in the best modern business estab- 
lishments. 

6 The equipment should be suitable and sufficient for the pur- 
poses and methods of instruction. 

7 So far as feasible, such instruction should be given in English, 
history, civics and other appropriate subjects as will tend to make 
the pupils self-helpful, intelligent and worthy citizens. 

8 All instruction should be so arranged that each period of 
study prepares for its naturally succeeding periods and efficiently 
trains for vocational usefulness. 

Further consideration to the general topic of courses of study 
will be given when the distinguishing characteristics of each type 
of school as classified in the law are separately described. 

MANNER OF CONDUCTING VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 
The requirement of the law that State-aided vocational schools 
shall be conducted in a manner approved by the Commissioner of 
Education is general rather than specific, and may be understood 
to contemplate his intimate knowledge and supervision of the 
methods, work and maintained condition of such schools. To aid 
him in acquiring such information there will need to be frequent 
official inspection. 



14 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

The chief aim of State supervision is to prevent the expenditure 
of local and State money for unsatisfactory schemes. The pre- 
sumption is that if there is to be a partnership of responsibility and 
interest there should be from the start a clear understanding be- 
tween the State and the community. To insure this understanding 
it is advisable for the locality to seek, previous to taking up the 
work, tentative approval of methods and means to be employed 
in the development of vocational instruction. 

It is clear that the spirit of the law goes much beyond formal 
inspection ; it undoubtedly contemplates an active cooperation on 
the part of the State and local authorities to the end that efficient 
vocational education in five specific fields shall be maintained with 
the utmost economy and effectiveness. If the school has an or- 
ganization and a course of study both of which have been conducted 
in a manner to meet the approval of the Commissioner of Education, 
the community will be entitled to reimbursement to the extent named 
in the law. From every standpoint it would appear to be a wise 
procedure for the locality to seek tentative approval of the methods 
and means to be employed in the development of vocational in- 
struction in order that the State may assume its share of the part- 
nership and the responsibilities of inaugurating such instruction. 
In other words, the most efTective method will be to procure as 
far as possible from the State, what may be called " approval in 
advance " in order that the community may be certain at the out- 
set that the work has at least been started in compliance with the 
rules and regulations of the Commissioner of Education. 

At all suitable times the State holds itself in readiness to assist 
local communities by advice and supervision in making investiga- 
tions designed to discover and define local needs of vocational edu- 
cation, in devising plans providing for desirable schools, and in 
offering suggestions which will assist in maintaining them efficiently. 
As a result of this cooperation the Commissioner of Education will 
usually be able to indicate his approval or disapproval of particular 
proposals of local authorities in advance of the execution of such 
proposals. Even if approval in advance has been given, however, 
it still remains for him to approve the actual accomplishment of 
the vocational instruction. This approval will be given if the school 
has been organized and conducted in a satisfactory manner and 
has successfully carried out the course of study approved by him. 
But the approval can be given only year by year and approval for 
one year does not necessarily imply approval for the following 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 1 5 

years. At successive stages in the process of conducting vocational 
instruction, the Commissioner of Education will indicate his ap- 
proval or disapproval and thus encourage or discourage the com- 
munity from continuing a policy which would be likely to jeopardize 
official approval and hence the loss of special aid. 

TYPES OF SCHOOLS WITH THEIR AIMS AND METHODS 
The law specifically designates five types of vocational schools, 
as follows : the general industrial school ; trade schools ; schools of 
agriculture, mechanic arts and homemaking; part-time or continua- 
tion schools; evening vocational schools. Each type will be con- 
sidered in some detail. 

GENERAL INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL 
The law defines the general industrial school as being open to 
pupils who have completed the elementary school course or who 
have attained the age of 14 years. The law does not define the 
type of work which it shall undertake. It is assumed, however, 
that it is to be of the all-day vocational order and that it is designed 
to give practical training in suitable occupations connected with 
the fields of industrial or household arts to pupils over 14 years of 
age who give practically their entire time to a school attendance in 
which they are fitted for the trades, crafts, and manufacturing pur- 
suits relating to industrial and household activities. 

Furthermore the word " general " would seem to imply that the 
training given was not to be confined to a narrow and highly 
specialized trade training. The fact that there is mentioned a 
second type of school-^ the trade school — reinforces this opinion. 
Again, it is evidently not the purpose of this type of school to make 
vocational training incidental or subordinate to further liberal train- 
ing; otherwise there would have been no occasion to have written 
it into the Education Law. 

The ideals to be reached in this type of school may be summed 
up as follows: first, the development of a part of the experience, 
intelligence and skill requisite in a given group of related industries. 
For back of many groups of trades or factory processes are found 
certain elements of likeness in the material employed, the tools 
used and the general character of the product which can be so 
taught as to give manual skill and industrial intelligence applicable 
to many industrial vocations. Second, the adaptation of the work 
of the school to the prevailing industries of the locality. The ex- 



l6 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

periences within the school will grow out of community needs and 
touch the business of the place in which the child lives. Third, 
acting as an agency for the proper and wise selection of an occu- 
pation leading boys and girls toward the industries with awakened 
sympathies and ambition for industrial careers with some knowl- 
edge of industrial qualities and with some conception of what the 
industries have to offer them. Fourth, the development of certain 
broad and social qualities such as interest in work, ideals of work- 
manship and industrial responsibility. 

The methods to be employed are, first, the teaching of the es- 
sentials in bookwork; second, teaching applications before theory; 
third, a definite correlation of subject matter including such in- 
struction in mathematics as will be applied knowledge of immediate 
value to the pupil in his work and closely connected at every pos- 
sible point with shop experience and drawing room practice, the 
drawing being such as will assist the pupil in his shop projects and 
be closely connected with his shop experience ; fourth, the shopwork 
to be conducted on a basis generally accepted as being common 
in industrial establishments as distinguished from the ordinary 
exercise or the manual training method of handling pupils. The 
shopwork should be carried on as much like real shop practice as 
the school conditions will permit. 

General industrial training may well begin after the ordinary 
school arts like reading, spelling, writing, drawing, arithmetic, 
grammar and the rudiments of history and geography are fairly 
completed and as soon as the muscles are strong enough to handle 
the lighter tools of industry safely and are sufficiently developed 
for the acquisition of skill in their use. 

A general industrial school for children entering at 13 or 14 
years of age should have a course extending from two to four 
years. The latter period is preferable for two reasons, first, because 
this length of time is necessary to produce the requisite mental 
and physical training for a life of progression in industrial efficiency, 
and second, because it enables the school to attract and hold the 
pupil when his growing power is greatest and his earning power 
least. It is highly important that pupils remain in such a school 
until they are at least 16 years of age owing to the fact that prac- 
tically no desirable jobs await them before that age. 

For the first two years the studies should be general in char- 
acter, being designed to round out the elementary school instruc- 
tion, laying the foundation of industrial efficiency and arousing a 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 



17 



set of industrial interests that will demand the work of the next 
two years for their fulfilment. In other words, general mechanical 
training the first two years and " specialization " the last two years. 
This specialization will not come until the pupil is 16 years of age 
when a more definite preparation for the vocation can be attained 
either in the system of trades schools which should follow and 
supplement those general schools or in the definite connection which 
can be made between the general school and the local apprentice- 
ship systems that may exist in the local factories. 

Suggestive two-year course for boys 



SEVENTH YEAR 

Subject 


Periods 
a week 


EIGHTH YEAR 

Stibjcct 


Periods 
a week 


Applied mathematics 
Shop drawing 
English and spelling 
Industrial geography 
Elementary industrial science 
Citizenship and hygiene 


5 
4 

S 
4 

I 
I 


Applied mathematics 5 
Shop drawing 4 
English and writing 5 
Industrial history 4 
Elementary industrial science I 
Citizenship and hygiene i 


1 Elements of 
Carpentry 
Cabinet making 
Wood turning 
Patternmaking 
Molding 


20 


^ Elements of 

Sheet metal work 
Plumbing 
Electrical work 
Machine shopwork 


20 



40 



40 



Suggestive two-year course for girls 



Scvoith year 



FIRST HALF 








Periods 


Subjects 


a week 


Applied arithmetic 

English 

Industrial geography and textiles 

Spelling and writing 

Home furnishing and decoration 

Costume design 


5 
5 
4 
I 
2 
2 


Music 




I 


Physical training 
Citizenship and hygiene 
Household science 




I 

I 
2 


Plain sewing 
Cooking 


- 


8 
8 

40 



SECOND HALF 



Periods 

Subjects a week 

Applied arithmetic 5 

English 5 

Industrial geography and textiles 4 

Spelling and writing i 

Home furnishing and decoration 2 

Millinery design 2 

Music I 

Physical training i 

Citizenship and hygiene i 

Household science 2 

Millinery 8 

Cooking 8 

40 



'Other groups which are fundamental to a group of trades may be substituted. For example, 
elements of printing and bookbinding, elements of the leather industry, e'ements of the clothing 
industry and the elements of the clay products industry. 



l8 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 





Eighth 


year 






Periods 




Periods 


Subjects 


a week 


Subjects 


a week 


Applied arithmetic 


5 


Bookkeeping 


5 


English 


5 


English 


S 


History 


4 


History 


4 


Spelling and writing 


I 


Spelling and writing 


I 


Home furnishing and decoration 2 


Home furnishing and decoration 2 


Costume design 


2 


Millinery design 


2 


Music 


I 


Music 


I 


Physical training 


I 


Physical training 


I 


Home nursing 


I 


Household economics 


I 


Household science 


2 


Household science 


2 


Dressmaking 


8 


Millinery 


8 


Cooking 


8 


Cooking 


8 



40 40 

For the last two years the studies should be more specific in 
character. The first two years should have developed an interest 
in industrial subjects, and by this time the pupil ought to have 
determined for what line of mechanical work he was best adapted 
and should then fit himself for a trade pursuit. The general aim 
of the last two years should be to make specific applications of 
subject matter to the industries of the locality and its vicinity. The 
boy might spend the major part of his school time of the last two 
years in the shopwork. This type of work is further elaborated 
under the head of trade schools. 

That the subject matter will vary according to the locality has 
already been made clear. The shopwork should result in products 
which are usable and, under favorable conditions, salable. Common 
sense will determine what is feasible and fair to all interests con- 
cerned. Pedagogical principles demand that the boys and girls 
attending this type of school shall deal with whole products, re- 
producing commercial conditions so that an abiding appreciation of 
rate of work may enter into the question of production. The 
shop school at Rochester, in common with other schools, has been 
successfully working on this basis. Following is a statement of the 
productive w^ork of the pupils in this school for one year. 

Rochester Shop School 

a Cabinet depart in cut (97 jobs completed) 

40 flag standards 102 drawing tables 

24 flat top desks 12 wiring boards 

20 manual training benches 10 chairs 

64 T squares 6 bulletin boards 

12 saw horses Stock for aeroplanes 

42 bench tops Stock for manual training depart- 
60 bench stops ment 

Preparing 1500 feet of stock for i music stand 

carpentry department i directors' table 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS IQ 

a Cabinet department {Concluded) 
6 bookcases i8 sewing boxes 

2 tiling cabinets 500 cord adjusters 

ID work tables i battery shelf 

h Carpentry department (74 jobs completed) 

4 settees built for grammar school Tool house on athletic field of West 
2000 square feet of flooring laid High School 

3000 square feet of partitions built 15 doors in R. S. S., No. 18 school 

8 transoms put in and No. 8 school 

16 air diverters built i key board 

16 cupboards built i bulletin board 

5 wiring boards constructed 12 racks for girls gymnasium at 

West High School 

c Electrical department (158 jobs completed) 

46 jobs repairing fire gongs in Connecting stereopticons 

schools Installing desk lamps 

27 jobs repairing annunciator systems Installing footlights 

Installing intercommunicating tele- Installing motors 

phone system Installing 3600 feet no. 12 wire in R. 

Installing buzzers S. S. 

16 jobs installing lighting systems Installing 1600 feet no. 16 wire in R. 

S. S. 
Installing 276 lamps in R. S. S. 

d Plumbing department (24 jobs completed) 

13 schools supplied with bubbler Installing 5 sinks in R. S. S. 

fountains Gas pipe run for solder furnaces 

5 fountains repaired Installation of all water pipes and 

4 toilets repaired waste pipes in R. S. S. 
Installing 10 toilets in R. S. S. 

e Printing department (265 jobs completed) 
31 jobs printing envelops (42,000 5 jobs recipes (150 sets each) 
nnpressions) 3 songs (3800) 

17 jobs letter heads (31,000) 8 circular letters (10,500) 
7 jobs note heads (4000) 5 post cards (50CO) 

9 jobs booklets (95,000) 118 miscellaneous 

33 jobs cards (86,100) 
29 jobs small record sheets (130,000) 

The most effective method of approach in the bookwork will be 
along lines of its application to industrial problems and with com- 
paratively little study of pure forms. Mathematics, science, draw- 
ing, and to a slight extent even English and history, should grow 
out of, and manifest its relations to, the concrete shopwork. 

When the program of vocational studies has been determined it 
may be possible to introduce others that are frankly nonvocational, 
such as music and art. Caution must be used in this matter. It 
is possible to make a social and industrial citizen, to give vocational 
intelligence and vocational ideals by studying evolution of industry, 
industrial hygiene, rates of compensation, relations between em- 
ployers and employees. Formal and detailed work in the so-called 
" cultural " subjects does not necessarily make for citizenship. In 
the Albany vocational school stress is laid upon the development 



20 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

of transportation and communication, the establishment and growth 
of cities together with their new code of civic Hfe involved, the 
changes brought about by the concentration of capital and labor 
in production, and the civic duties and privileges of the modern 
industrial citizen. 

METHODS OF TEACHING CORRELATED SUBJECTS^ 

The first step to be taken in the solution of the problem of teach- 
ing correlated subjects is to change the attitude of the pupil toward 
bookwork. This is done by treating English, history and geography 
so that they have purpose and understanding in the pupil's con- 
sciousness and make his activities have a meaning to himself. 

The English, which consists of writing, reading, spelling and 
composition, and the history and geography are not taught as 
things by themselves but are used as a means of giving purpose to 
the vocation and affording the pupil a consciousness of the world 
in which he has to live and serve. To illustrate : our girls begin the 
work in sewing by hemming by hand some towels and dish cloths 
for use in the kitchen. They have never sewed a napery hem before. 
Some have never done any hemming before. The towels and dish 
cloths are passed to each member of the class and some questions 
are raised as to quality and texture of the material and without 
delay the instructions for measuring and turning up and sewing the 
hem are given and the sewing has begun. The work is in progress 
only a short time when the pupils pass to the classroom for book 
studies. 

This sewing lesson is the basis for spelling, composition, geog- 
raphy, history and arithmetic. Investigation of the source of the 
material of which the towel is made leads to a study of the pro- 
duction, preparation for and manufacture of flax into linen ; to 
the location of the fiax-producing countries of the world; to other 
uses of flax and linen; to the evolution of the linen industry; to a 
study of other kinds of toweling, their names, cost, use, superiority 
or inferiority of one kind over another and some common tests of 
quality. 

Samples of toweling are collected and for this collection letters 
are written to dry goods firms asking for samples. This necessitates 
a study of the proper way to write a business letter, and the teacher 
should develop and drill on the form, wording and punctuation 
of the conventional letter. The pupils write to Boston for a little 
book called " From Wool to Cloth " ; to a firm in Cleveland for a 

1 Extract from paper read by Rose I. Hughes at Albany Vocational Con- 
ference December 6, 1913. 



I 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 21 

booklet, " Approved Methods of Home Laundering." They com- 
pare and contrast the essential qualities of a business letter — 
brevity, clearness, neatness and courtesy — with those of the social 
or friendly letter. A few notes are made on the parts and forms of 
business letters. 

Meanwhile the work in sewing has been going on. Towels have 
been finished and underwear started. In the millinery class, buck- 
ram, tarlatan and cotton-covered wires are in use. So while the 
interest is keen and the trade materials new, the textile work is 
completed, taking in order cotton, wool, silk and the other com- 
mercial fibers. We have an excellent opportunity to study the pro- 
cesses in the manufacture of wool into cloth in that the owner of a 
woolen mill nearby offers us, annually, the freedom of his mill 
and the attention of two guides who not only explain the processes 
and machines but wait until the children jot down notes. 

On entering the shop the boys take inventory, handle and examine 
the tools, learn their names and, in a general way, their uses. They 
listen to a lecture on the structure and use of the hammer, and 
learn how to hold and swing it. Altogether they have a blissful 
morning which is all too short. But alas ! the thoughts of the old 
school work come with the afternoon and with hands in pockets 
and shuffling feet they saunter to the room of desks and books. 

Here no word of geograi)hy or formal study is spoken but paper 
is passed and the pupils are asked to write a list of the tools on 
their bench. Few can spell all the names and as they request 
it the words are written on the board and carefully copied, then 
visualized and taken home with the direction that the list will 
be made again the next day when every one will know how to spell 
them. 

Then comes the question as to which of those tools was first 
used by man and the knowledge gained from the morning lecture 
is given out freely. Some little books are quite casually passed 
around. They are not school books, but manufacturers' adver- 
tisements. No direction is given as the boys turn over page after 
page to find that there is nothing in the book but information about 
hammers. . . . Then follows the story of the biography of 
David Maydole, a wonderful story of what principle aad high 
ideals of workmanship will do in the business career of a man. 
Next comes the study of the iron and steel industry of the 
world, the dififerent forms of iron — ore, pig, cast, wrought, steel ; 
the processes and manufacture of iron and steel ; the locations of 



22 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

this industry in the world; the evolution of the iron industry; use 
of iron in colonial days, in postrevolutionary days and today; the 
influence of the production of iron and steel on the development, 
progress and power of a country ; the wonderful efifect of the pro- 
duction of steel during the last fifty years. Lantern slides on this 
industry are used ... In this connection the pupils read of 
the fortunes and misfortunes of Henry Bessemer. This is English, 
history and geography radiating from the shop work as a cen- 
ter. . . . 

5): * * * 5JS 

The hornemaking department is most closely related to the book- 
work. The food products of the world are studied with reference 
to their geographical, historical, economic, chemical and domestic 
relations. . . . Geographical, because we study the production 
of the article and the natural conditions which control it — location, 
climate etc. . . . Historical and economic, because we consider 
the human, industrial and economic conditions affecting production, 
manufacture, transportation and consumption of food. . . . 
Chemical, because we consider the food elements contained in the 
articles and estimate their eiTect on the body. . . . Domestic, 
because we study proper ways of preserving these foods with regard 
to nutritive value and appetizing service. 

TRADE SCHOOLS 
The law defines the trade school as being open to pupils who 
have attained the age of sixteen and have completed either the 
elementary school course or a course in the aforementioned general 
industrial school or who have met such other requirements as the 
local authorities may prescribe. Again the law does not define the 
type of work which shall be done in the trade school but it is 
reasonable to assume that its vocational instruction is to be specific 
rather than general in its character and that it is to build upon 
and grow out of the vocational instruction given in the general type 
of school. Furthermore, the statement that the local school au- 
thorities may prescribe other entrance requirements has considerable 
significance. It would appear that the following definite principles 
involved in the organizatnon, courses of study and manner of con- 
ducting instruction are appropriate to trade schools. First, pupils 
enter these schools with a well-defined vocational purpose. Either 
the period of trying out is finished or their vocational bent is clear 
in their own minds or economic pressure forces a vocational choice. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 23 

Second, they are there to learn a specific trade to the full extent 
that is possible in any school plan. Third, the school practically 
abandons any specific instruction in the so-called liberal studies and 
all the culture which the pupil receives comes directly from his 
trade instruction. Fourth, it is, however, taken for granted that 
there can never be genuine trade instruction without some accom- 
paniment of the applications to the trades, practice of mathematics, 
science and economics. Fifth, each trade taught in the trade school 
forms a school unit in itself. Correlation of subject matter relating 
to each trade is developed by the teacher of that trade. Sixth, the 
trade teacher must be alive to the human needs of the vocation. 
He must know about trade unionism, the effect of hours and wages 
upon prices, industrial betterment laws and regulations, something 
of the history of the trade, and a score of other points which have 
made him through reading and observation, an intelligent, thought- 
ful, progressive workman and instructor. 

A glance at the following topics in plumbing as given in a two- 
year course of study in the Saunders Trades School at Yonkers will 
make clear how consciously as well as unconsciously the boy taking 
this course may absorb some of, the disciplinary and useful studies 
of mathematics and science; how he may learn to read and make 
working drawings ; how he may be provided with the tools of spell- 
ing, writing, composition ; how he may touch the socializing studies 
of geography and citizenship. 

WEEK p{,.,f ^,^.^„, 

NO. 

1,2 Inspection of shop and working equipment, including names and uses 
of the various tools and plumbing materials, such as vent, soil, waste, 
water and gas fittings ; drain, soil, waste, and water pipe : valves, 
stopcocks, ball cocks, plunger valves, their construction and use. 
3,4 Cast-iron soil pipe, where and how used; sizes and weight. Elemen- 
tary work in yarning oakum, pouring lead and calking joints; cutting 
soil pipe. 
5 Preparing soldering irons for use ; soldering iron practice. 
6-8 Cutting and making wiping cloths; making soil, its use; preparing lead 
pipe for wiping. 
9 Making solder; composition; proportions for wiping solder; melti' 

points and result of overheating. 
10 Restoring and testing impure solder; use of grease previous to wip 
II, 12 Treatment of joints to give mottled appearance; length and w 
of wiped joints; wiping joints at bench. 
13 Filing and tinning brass stopcocks, ferrules, solder nipples. 
14, 15 Threading and cutting nipples of all sizes on wrought-iron pip- 

16 Laying sewer pipe, properly cementing connections ; pitch 

capacity ; sewer branches. 

17 The numerous kinds of traps : size, general descriptir- 

and where used ; trap seal, how broken ; disadvanta 
seals in traps. 



24 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 



WEEK 
NO. 

i8, 19 First work in installing hot water supply for domestic use. 

20, 21 Laying out gas-fitting work ; cutting and threading pipe. 

22, 23 Calking and testing cellar drains and soil stacks. 

24,25 Back venting; why traps are back vented and how constructed; main, 

branch, crown, circuit, loop, local and continuous venting; soil and 

waste venting. 
26-28 Distinction between soil and waste for drainage; roughing; house 

drain, house sewer; cleaning of waste pipe; pitch and sizes of waste 

pipe and house drain ; waste vents. 

29 The Durham system, its advantages and disadvantages demonstrated. 

30 Fittings prohibited on the drainage system ; where clean outs are used 

on same; methods of supporting overhead piping. 
31,32 Main house trap; purpose of fresh-air connection; setting of main 

trap ; clean outs on same. 
33 Rain leader traps; outside and inside leaders. 
34, 35 Soldering sheet lead, tin, and galvanized iron. 
36, 2)j Siphonage demonstrated ; siphon closets, tanks, lavatories, sewage 

siphon and urinals ; their action and construction. 

38 The siphonage of traps and boilers, and how prevented; lead burning; 

wiping joints at bench continued. 

39 Review. 

40 Examination. 

Second year 

1-4 The different plumbing fixtures ; installing wrought-iron sink lines with 
continuous vent, crown vent, and improper vent, all work tested and 
improper work corrected. 
S-8 Roughing in and setting of fixtures, including connecting of stoves, 
heaters, boilers, closets, tubs, sinks, and lavatories, using lead, nickel- 
plated and iron pipe. 
9-12 Gas fitting; working from plans; connecting auxiliary water heater 
and Humphrey automatic instantaneous water heater; demonstration 
and explanation. 
13, 14 Wiping round joints at bench continued. 

15-17 Hot and cold water supply and circulation; sources of water supply; 
boiler and range work ; connecting boiler, requirements for proper 
action of same ; cause of explosion of water fronts ; arrangement of 
stopcocks and valves ; sizes of service pipe and branches. 
18 Pipe bending with spring and sand ; making offsets and bends ; working 
sheet lead ; making P. &. S. straps. 
19-21 Wiping upright, vertical, and horizontal round and branch joints on all 
sizes of pipe; wiping wall and floor flange joints; joint wiping con- 
tinued under actual working conditions. 

22 Making connections for refrigerators. 

23 Advantages and objections to the different types of water-closets and 

flush tanks; principles under which they are operated; explained. 

24 Local venting and ventilation of toilet rooms. 

25 Methods and purpose of testing new and old work. 

'6,27 Wiping in service pipe under direct pressure; freezing pipe to wipe 
joints. 
28 Roughing in for comfort stations and school work. 

31 Advanced lead burning; lining tanks for chemical purposes. 

^4 Making repairs of all kinds on tanks, closets, faucets, valves, cocks, 
and so forth. 
Calculation of tank and boiler capacities ; free-hand drawing. 
' imbing rules and regulations of Yonkers. 

'iction in working from plans and specifications. 



'es the installation of plumbing for a one family dwelling 
condition. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 2$ 

One-half day each week is devoted to inspection of plumbing in buildings 
in course of construction in this city. 

The needs and work of the practical plumber arc given consideration in 
all particulars. 

All work is done from blue prints and drawings when practicable. 

Note. — During the two years 1200 hours are devoted to shopwork. In 
addition, 1200 hours are devoted to a study of English, spelling, writing, 
composition, geography, citizenship, arithmetic and sketching. 

There is more " education '" in such a course than one is prepared 
to see at first glance. The boy must know tables of specific gravities, 
of weights per linear foot, of diiTerent materials, of cubical con- 
tents of dififerent vessels, of melting points of different solids. He 
must know how to estimate the cost of installation of plumbing 
fixtures. He must see the workings of the laws of mechanics and 
flowing liquids in the various types of fixtures. It should be stated, 
however, that the degree of the "education " attained by the pupil 
rests almost entirely on the personal as well as the trade qualifica- 
tions of the instructor. He must have the true spirit of craftsman- 
ship. He may not be learned, as the saying is, but he must have a 
clean character, believe in honest work, know something of the 
economic questions which enter into his trade, read his weekly trade 
paper, be able to apply those book and technical studies which have 
direct application to his craft, and have the ability to inspire his 
pupils by personal example and instruction to do the best for them- 
selves. 

NEED FOR SCHOOLS OF CRAFTSMANSHIP 

After all our theorizing over and agitating for trade or special 
technical institutes of secondary order, we have very little to show. 
The hand industries are engulfed by the machine. The industrial 
revolution has forged far ahead of our organized social life and 
our organized education. The traditions of craftsmanship were 
preserved in the old industrial system ; they were handed down from 
master to apprentice and journeyman. The old system as a teach- 
ing system has disappeared. 

The way of salvation lies through the schools. It does not lie in 
the trades. We now see clearly that it is the business of trade to 
produce, not to educate ; it is the main business of the school to 
educate, not to produce. 

While Europe succumbed to the industrial revolution in spite of 
the tremendous defense of her traditions of craftsmanship, she re- 
acted quickly. She now trains students to be practical craft- 
masters in the art industries ; in the textile industries as designers, 
lacemakers, costume delineators ; in the graphic arts as designers. 



1 



26 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

decorators, painters, illustrators, engravers, lithographers, etchers, 
color printers, photographers, bookbinders ; in the plastic arts as 
designers, molders, sculptors, stonecarvers, decorative tilemakers ; 
in the w^ood industries as designers, cabinetmakers, woodcarvers ; 
in the earth product industries as designers, potters, workers in 
stained glass and enamel ; in the metal industries as craftworkers 
in hammered and forged metal, silversmiths ; in the building and 
furnishing arts as interior designers and decorators. Infinite variety 
of callings, infinite variety of schools and courses — springs of vast, 
fresh streams of vivifying power entering into industry and into 
life. 

We are woefully lacking; not a textile school in the State, not 
a school for shoeworkers, not a school of fermentology, not a school 
for paper makers, not a school for glassworkers, not a public art 
school or school for jewelers or bookbinders or lithographers. We 
continue to waste and squander the wealth of artistic taste and 
craftsmanship inherent in our people and instinctive in many of our 
immigrants. We continue the making of mechanically-minded men 
through highly specialized labor. We ignore the worker for the 
system. We build for the immediate present instead of for that 
future, sure to come, when craftsmanship in America will be in 
direct competition with the human products of European schools. 

A new course of instruction recently put into operation in Pratt 
Institute is well worth mentioning as an illustration of what other 
schools might do to bring together the school and the factory. A 
school of instruction in the art of tanning and finishing leather has 
been opened at the suggestion of the National Association of 
Tanners. The courses offered are (a) a one-year trade course in 
tanning, intended for young men with or without experience in 
tannery work and designed to give a systematic training in the art 
of tanning and finishing different kinds of leather, and to supply 
a broader knowledge of principles involved in these processes than 
can be obtained under ordinary conditions of commercial manu- 
facture, and (b) a one-year technical course in applied leather 
chemistry, offering to postgraduate students in chemistry oppor- 
tunity for specialized study in the principles and practice of tanning 
and in the chemistry of leather under conditions that approximate 
closely to those obtaining in modern tanneries. 

The course of study is not only advanced and thorough on the 
chemical side, but is conducted in close relation to the practical 
requirements of the tannery. Instruction is given in the manu- 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 27 

facture of leather in all its branches, and j^ractice is afforded in the 
actual tanning and finishing of leather under conditions very similar 
to those in modern establishments. Special instruction is provided 
in the chemistry of leather and in other closely related branches of 
industrial and technical chemistry, such as dyeing and the prepara- 
tion and testing of dyes, soap making, the manufacture of chemicals, 
extracts, leaches etc., entering into tanning operations. 

A study is made also of the designs of tanneries and their equip- 
ment, and the problems in the supply of power, heat and steam and 
the handling of materials are worked out in detail. In the mechani- 
cal and electrical laboratories special attention is given to the subject 
of steam and electrical power machinery and the transmission and 
application of power. In addition to the regular work of the course, 
a series of lectures is given each year by experts and specialists in 
various departments of the tanning industry on technical and 
economic problems relating to leather manufacture. 

The richest State in the Union, the leading State in manufactur- 
ing should through its public education be able to master the machine 
and make it serve the spirit of life and joy and progress in all lines 
of trade and craftsmanship. 

SCHOOLS OF AGRICULTURE, MECHANIC ARTS AND HOME- 
MAKING 

The success of the schools of agriculture operating under the 
Education Law of 1910 providing for the establishment of such 
schools indicates that the basic principles of this law are sound. In 
brief they are as follows : first, these schools are universal in the 
sense that any school district may establish such a school ; second, 
such a school is established only when public sentiment as expressed 
by a majority vote favors it; third, although the State aids in the 
support of the school, the local community must pay its share ; 
fourth, a trained teacher of agriculture must give his whole time 
to the work ; fifth, the instruction is to be suited to the local com- 
munity. 

The amendments of 191 3 do not change these fundamentals but 
give to them increased effectiveness. The reduction of the required 
number of pupils from twenty-five to fifteen enables a school to start 
the work without overcrowding the classes, encourages the smaller 
schools to undertake this instruction and gives opportunity for the 
schools to make the work really vocational without fear of reducing 
the enrolled number below the requirement. This last point is 



28 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

especially significant as a great effort is being made to have pupils 
who wish to study agriculture give enough time to it and continue 
its study for a period sufficient to make it worth while. 

The change from a fixed apportionment for each teacher to a 
fractional apportionment based on the salaries of the teachers en- 
courages the local authorities to secure better teachers and once 
having secured them, to grant reasonable yearly increases in salary. 

The provision for an additional apportionment to each school 
which contracts with the teacher for an entire year makes possible 
an effective teaching plan. In these small schools many of the 
pupils return home each night and those who board in the village 
return home each Friday night. The home farms are used for 
demonstrations and practicums. The school furnishes an oppor- 
tunity for a study of the science underlying the home work and 
related to it. Each pupil then has a productive project under way 
at home while in school he is studying the science underlying that 
project. It is expected that the parents, the boy and the teacher 
will cooperate in this project, the parents and the teacher each 
contributing to the educational possibilities of the boy and the boy 
taking advantage of these possibilities. Undoubtedly we have in 
some instances been too hasty in assuming that certain home oppor- 
tunities for education have ceased to exist. During the spring and 
summer especially, there is splendid opportunity for the farm boy 
to make a real connection between the home and the school. It is 
quite evident then that the teacher should make frequent visits to 
the homes of the pupils in order that his advice and counsel may 
be available. The teacher of agriculture who spends the summer 
in close contact with the farm homes of the community goes back 
to the schoolroom in the fall with a much better idea of what and 
how to teach than he had previous to such an experience. During 
the summer the teacher has an opportunity to gather material of 
various kinds for his winter's work in the schoolroom. In passing 
about through the country he dispels some of the misconceptions 
concerning school agriculture and last but not least, he puts his 
knowledge and skill at the disposal of the community. 

There have been varying and various ideas concerning the ac- 
quirement and use of land by schools of agriculture. Some states 
have included in the legislation concerning state aid, a stipulation 
that a certain minimum acreage of land be cultivated as a school 
farm. The consensus of opinion now seems to favor the use of 
home land as a first consideration and the use of land in con- 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 2g 

nection with the school as a matter to be determined by local con- 
ditions. In this State, there are all gradations from no land to a 
thirty-seven acre farm. Other activities maintained in connection 
with the school are as variable. There are some localities in which 
the laboratory and classroom represent the school plant. One school 
has a well-equipped poultry outfit and another runs a local creamery 
with a monthly output of 2000 pounds of butter. There are many 
instances of community benefit arising from the local school of 
agriculture. All these movements seem to justify the policy of 
allowing these schools to develop along the line of community needs. 

Although there has been a steady increase in the number of 
schools teaching agriculture, the number is still small when com- 
pared to the number of secondary schools which might be classed 
as rural. The main obstacle is, of course, the expense. Notwith- 
standing the fact that State aid enables a school to employ a teacher 
of agriculture at a cost to the district of less than that of any other 
teacher, there is still necessity of retaining all the other teachers in 
order to maintain the academic standing of the school. The greater 
number of the pupils who study agriculture come from without a 
district which maintains a high school. The State pays a tuition of 
twenty dollars a year for each of these nonresident pupils while 
the cost to the district is between forty-five and fifty dollars when 
calculated on a basis of the minimum of fifteen pupils. It is true 
that these villages are for the most part dependent upon the sur- 
rounding community for their existence, but it is sometimes difficult 
to convince taxpayers of the immediate need of recognizing this 
fact. 

Thus far the development of this work has been in the high 
school field. There are in the State more than two hundred schools 
m.aintaining academic departments of junior, middle or senior grade. 
Nearly all these schools are well situated for agriculture. The 
majority of the pupils live on farms. The law provides for state 
aid for agriculture teaching in these schools. Provision has been 
made under the title of intermediate schools of agriculture, mechanic 
arts and homemaking, for the reorganization of these secondary 
schools offering less than four years of academic work. Such a 
reorganization would mean an increased teaching efficiency for the 
present expenditure on the part of the district. No doubt the de- 
velopment of this type of school will be rapid once one or two make 
a successful start. 

The lack of trained teachers is one of the great obstacles in the 
way of more rapid progress. The present requirement of two 



30 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

years of special preparation should be raised to four years. Our 
State college of agriculture is now prepared to give specific attention 
to the problem of preparing teachers for this work. Owing to the 
nature and diversity of the work, the contact with practical farmers 
and the project form of instruction, these teachers need a broad 
and thorough training. 

Last year there were but seven special teachers of home- 
making employed in schools of agriculture, mechanic arts and home- 
making in this State. This year there are fourteen such teachers 
employed. The girls as well as the boys should have their in- 
struction thoroughly organized and connected with the home ac- 
tivities. There is little doubt but that the work for the girls in 
these schools should be distinctly along homemaking rather than 
industrial lines. 

The specialist in agricultural education has visited the agricultural 
schools of some other states the past year. The following points 
were most forcibly brought to his attention in summarizing the 
efforts of other states along the line of vocational education and in 
comparing these efforts with those of New York State. 

1 Our State needs better trained teachers of agriculture. In the 
agricultural college of each state visited there is a well-organized de- 
partment of agricultural education which has as its chief aim, the 
preparation of teachers of agriculture for secondary schools. In 
each of these states which give state aid for agriculture in the public 
schools, over 90 per cent of the teachers of agriculture are agri- 
cultural college graduates with special preparation for teaching. At 
the New York State College of Agriculture there has heretofore 
been no provision for preparing teachers. In New York State the 
per cent of teachers of agriculture who are agricultural college 
graduates with special preparation for teaching is less than 20. 

2 Agricultural instruction in high schools should be recognized 
by the colleges. In each of the state universities of the five states 
visited, four units of vocational work are accepted for entrance to 
any department. At present, Syracuse University is the only in- 
stitution of college grade in New York State that will accept four 
units of vocational work for entrance. 

3 Efforts to better community conditions on the part of different 
State agencies should more closely cooperate. This cooperation be- 
tween the work of the college of agriculture, the county agricultural 
agent and the local teacher of agriculture is noticeable in the Middle 
West. This is probably due to several causes, among which are (o) 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 3 1 

the county agents are answerable to the college of agriculture; (b) 
the college of agriculture has a department specially interested in the 
field of secondary education; (c) this department is usually closely 
connected with the extension department of the college. In New 
York State the county agents are answerable to the Commissioner 
of Agriculture and to the state agent at State Agricultural College 
and this college has heretofore had no department especially in- 
terested in secondary school work. 

4 It is not wise to re([uire a tract of land for agricultural teaching 
in connection with every state-aided school, for the following 
reasons : 

(o) it can not be made financially profitable and therefore can 
not be justified as a demonstration; (b) the secondary school can 
not hope to carry on research work of experiment station character; 
(c) the pupils have better opportunity for practice at home; (d) 
the only justification possible is the raising of class demonstration 
and laboratory material not otherwise obtainable or as a laboratory 
in itself. This would mean a very small plot. 

5 Schools in other states provide, as a rule, better rooms and 
equipment for agricultural teaching. 

6 It might be well to consider the (iuestion of giving state aid, 
less than now given to vocational schools, for general education as 
expressed in the activities of the vocations, that is, for manual train- 
ing, for academic agriculture, for homemaking for such schools in 
the open country as can not meet the necessarily rigid requirements 
of the present law regarding state-aided vocational instruction. In 
the West, apparently as a result of an attempt to extend state- 
aided agricultural teaching to many of the smaller communities, 
much of the agriculture originally given on a vocational basis has 
been m.odified and reduced from the vocational plane to an academic 
level. 

The following description of the progress of agricultural teach- 
ing is given as an illustration of the point of view taken by the 
community toward this work and of the ups and downs incident to 
every new line of school work before its value is finally established 
in the minds of the taxpayers and school people. 

Agriculture in the Hancock High School. In August 191 1 at 
the annual school meeting of district 20, town of Hancock, Dela- 
ware county, it was voted to establish a course in vocational agri- 
culture in the Hancock High School. The village of Hancock, 
with a population of 1350, is situated at the fork of the Delaware 



32 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

river where the east and west branches unite to form the main 
stream. Since it is situated near the New York and Pennsylvania 
state Hne, the high school draws a few pupils from the latter state. 
The topography of the surrounding country is rough and moun- 
tainous. The valleys are narrow and steep. The creek beds ex- 
tending down from the hills to the Delaware river have narrow 
valleys, the fertility of which is rather below the average. Gen- 
erally, however, each run has near its head a small district of rolling 
land well elevated and devoted largely to dairying. For a genera- 
tion the principal industries of the locality were lumbering, blue- 
stone quarrying and railroading. Since the timber has been cut 
off, farming has received more attention but no grange or other 
farmers' organization existed in the vicinity prior to 1911. 

Charles A. Taylor was engaged at a salary of $950 for ten months. 
He is a graduate of a high school, the Cortland Normal School 
and has studied one year and two summers at Cornell University 
in the College of Agriculture. His farm experience has made him 
thoroughly familiar with the practical side of farming. He was a 
farm- reared boy and has himself run a farm. 

The teacher canvassed the adjoining districts for agricultural 
pupils for a period of ten days before school began. 

Extension work. First year. During the first year of the course, 
two farmers' meetings were held in the spring. The first was an 
afternoon session, February 22, 1912. Professor Krum of Cornell 
University spoke on " Poultry Keeping," and Professor L. S. 
Hawkins, director of agriculture at the Cortland Normal School, 
spoke on " Fruit Growing." About forty were present, of whom 
approximately one-half were pupils. The second meeting was an 
evening meeting when a representative of the State Forestry De- 
partment delivered a stereopticon lecture on the " Reforestation of 
Idle Lands." The attendance was large but consisted mostly of 
residents of the village. 

Considerable other extension work was planned but could not 
be carried out because the teacher was overloaded with science 
work. A few visits were made to farms for the purpose of in- 
specting soil, stock and general agricultural conditions. The im- 
portant outcome of these visitations was probably the close ac- 
quaintance and friendship formed with the farmers visited. Where 
possible the instructor spent a day and a night at the farm. No 
suitable land or equipment was available for demonstration work 
but one cooperative spraying experiment was inaugurated and was 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 33 

successful. One boy successfully worked out a home project on 
poultry raising. 

Second year. The agricultural teacher was again heavily loaded 
with classroom work, but was able to get out more and stimulated 
the formation of a farmers' club of eighteen adult members in a 
near-by locality. As a result of his milk-testing demonstrations 
before that club, one dairyman was known to dispose of about 
one-third of his dairy because it was shown that they failed to pay 
for their keep. The school has the hearty support of the farmers 
of that vicinity. 

During the spring of the second year there seemed to be a feeling 
among some of the retired taxpayers of the village, who were in- 
terested especially in the matter of tax rate, that the agricultural 
course was rather more expensive than conditions warranted. To 
meet this situation a mass meeting was called for the purpose 
of allowing all a chance for free expression regarding the ad- 
visability of continuing the course. A very unexpected sentiment 
in favor of the course manifested itself among the farmers and 
business men present. Several enthusiastic talks were given, which 
decidedly favored the continuance of the school. Farmers drove 
as far as seven miles in order to be present and give favorable 
expression for the course. No word of opposition was spoken. 
During the meeting a contribution was suggested to raise money 
for a school spray pump to be used in the community. Forty dol- 
lars was pledged by the farmers and business men present. One 
citizen offered prizes for the ten best ears of corn to be grown by 
a boy in school. Similar prizes were offered for the best exhibit 
of potatoes and the largest pumpkin. 

The sprayer purchased was a fine double-action machine carry- 
ing a twenty-five foot leader. Over one hundred trees have been 
sprayed this fall, principally for oyster shell scale, which is very 
bad in this section. 

A winter course was offered to those young men who were unable 
to come to the school for the entire year. 

A Saturday course in agriculture was started in the fall of 1912 
for teachers in the neighboring district schools and meetings were 
held once in three weeks at the school during the fall term. This 
course proved an excellent means of enlisting the good will of the 
farmers in outlying districts, some of whom occasionally attended 
the meetings themselves. 

Third year. With the opening of the school in the fall of 1913, 
all science work was left in the hands of the teachers of science 



34 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

and time was afforded for more community work by the teacher 
of agriculture. The number of pupils enrolled in strictly vocational 
courses greatly increased and much interest was shown in all phases 
of the agricultural work. Requests came early in the fall for several 
meetings in outlying districts where the agricultural teacher should 
speak on fruit growing, feeds and feeding, care of farm animals, 
etc. 

An all-day farmers' meeting was held October 25th. The fore- 
noon session was given up to fruit growing, the agricultural teacher 
being the speaker. . The afternoon session was conducted by Pro- 
fessor Hopper of Cornell who spoke on dairying. About sixty 
were present, mostly representative farmers from the localities 
around Hancock. Some came eleven miles to attend the meeting. 
The expenses of the meeting were met by contributions from the 
farmers. 

■ The school spray pump has been actively working on dormant 
spraying from the time the leaves fell until the winter set in. 
Many more persons than could be accommodated desired to co- 
operate in spraying experiments. The owners of the orchards 
convey- 1-he pump, do the work and furnish the material. The 
agricultural teacher directs the work and supervises it. No charge 
is made for the use of the sprayer or the time of the agricultural 
teacher, but each person using the sprayer is asked to make some 
contribution for keeping the sprayer in repair and providing for 
further cooperative work. 

For illustration : Augustus Reyen, six miles from Hancock, has 
an orchard of about forty trees. These trees were badly infested 
with oyster shell scale. Mr Taylor, the agricultural teacher, spent 
a Saturday with Mr Reyen and thoroughly sprayed all his apple 
trees except a very few which neglect had placed beyond recovery. 
Mr Reyen will spray for coddling moth, bud moth, etc., in the 
spring. Several neighbors appeared during the day, witnessed the 
operation, showed evident interest and inquired the cost etc. and 
two said that they wished to spray in the spring. Each has a good 
sized orchard. Two weeks later Mr Reyen sent down details of 
his available feeds and requested the teacher of agriculture to fix 
him up a balanced ration for his cows. The community in which 
Mr Reyen lives stands ready to support the course in agriculture 
in the high school. 

About sixty pupils will work out home projects this summer in 
this locality. They will be along the lines of fruit growing, farm 
crops, poultry keeping, etc. One lad will keep a set of agricultural 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 35 

accounts for his father's farms. They total 700 acres with two 
large dairies. His bookkeeping will have the close supervision of 
the agricultural department of the school. One girl with plenty 
of physical strength will thoroughly renovate her father's orchard 
of about thirty trees. Her work will include pruning, grafting, 
spraying and soil treatment. Another girl will keep two pens of 
chickens under dififerent rations, while a neighbor's boy will keep 
a large flock for profit and will keep careful accounts. 

The board of education at Hancock is now fully in sympathy 
with the agricultural movement. It has become convinced that 
the work is a good thing and that the course will remain in this 
school permanently. The board is fitting up a new room for the 
agricultural department and will purchase about $150 worth of 
additional equipment which will put the course on an excellent 
foundation. 

Class materials. There are three principal sources of materials 
for class use : first, that which is gathered by the agricultural teacher 
in his various visits among the farmers ; second, that which is 
brought in by the pupils, principally at the request of the teacher, 
and which includes a good supply of curios, unknown plants, insects, 
diseases etc. ; third, that which is sent in by the farmers, who fur- 
nish materials very freely when requested to do so. These include 
milk samples, corn, potatoes, apples etc. for various purposes. 
Machinery, chemicals, and similar materials kept by the local stores 
are held available to the classes, as are the barns, fields and stock in 
the locality. 

PART-TIME OR CONTINUATION SCHOOLS 
The law provides for state-aided part-time or continuation schools 
in which instruction is given in the trades and in industrial, agri- 
culture and homemaking subjects, and which are open to pupils 
over 14 years of age who are regularly and lawfully employed 
during a part of the day in any useful employment or service. It 
states that the subjects must be supplementary to the practical work 
carried on in such employment or service. This very significant 
and important amendment to the Education Law of 19 10 was passed 
during the last session of the Legislature. It is directly related to 
the following amendment to the compulsory attendance law which 
was passed at the same time : 

When the board of education in a city or district sliall have established 
part-time and continuation schools or courses of instruction for the education 
of young persons between 14 and 16 years of age who are regularly 



36 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

employed in such city or district, said board of education may require the 
attendance in such schools or on such courses of instruction of any young 
person in such a city or district who is in possession of an employment cer- 
tificate duly issued under the provisions of the labor law, who_ has not com- 
pleted such courses of study as are required for graduation from_ the 
elementary public schools of such city or district, who does not hold either 
a certificate of graduation from the public elementary school or a pre- 
academic certificate of the completion of the elementary course issued by the 
Education Department, and who is not otherwise receiving instruction 
approved by the board of education as equivalent to that provided for in the 
schools and courses of instruction established under the provisions of 
this act. The required attendance provided for in this paragraph shall be 
for a total of not less than 36 weeks per year, at the rate of not less than 
4 and not more than 8 hours per week, and shall be between the hours 
of 8 o'clock in the morning and 5 o'clock in the afternoon of any working 
dav or days. 

3 The children attending such part-time or continuation schools as re- 
quired in paragraph 2 of this section shall be exempt from the attendance 
on evening schools required in paragraph i of this section. 

As a matter of fact, the second amendment is the more important 
of the two in that it opens the way for a great educational reform 
by providing for the exercise of local option by educational authori- 
ties in all cities and districts. The authorities may elect whether 
they will set up part-time and continuation schools and classes and 
will require the attendance of permit children upon such classes or 
whether they will continue the present policy of requiring, in cities 
of the first class, attendance upon evening schools of such groups 
of children. 

The significance of these amendments is not fully appreciated 
unless one has a rather clear idea of the hardship which has here- 
tofore been imposed upon immature youths who were required to 
attend evening schools. Under the old law, employed boys, between 
14 and 16 years of age in the cities of New York and Buffalo who 
had not met certain elementary school requirements, which are 
described in section 622 of article 23 of chapter 140 of the Laws 
of 19 10, were required to attend public evening schools six hours a 
week for a period of sixteen weeks. The amendment opened the 
way for the educational authorities in all cities and districts to 
avail themselves of the option of gradually establishing part-time 
and continuation schools or courses of instruction and of requir- 
ing the attendance of all permit children between 14 and 16 as 
fully described in the amendment. By this means attendance upon 
these part-time and continuation classes for a period of not less 
than four and not more than eight hours a week for forty weeks 
a year is made a full and satisfactory substitute for the attendance 
upon evening school now required from permit boys in New York 
City and Buffalo. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 37 

The experiences of New York City and Buffalo showed con- 
clusively that the former law requiring evening school attendance 
of permit boys (section 622) could not be satisfactorily enforced. 
The attendance officers in these cities have been more than occu- 
pied with the work of the day schools and a huge force of ad- 
ditional officers would be required to enforce the statute properly. 
The seriousness of the situation is shown by the fact that there 
should have been 22,000 permit boys between 14 and 16 in the com- 
pulsory evening classes in New York City for the school year 
1911-12. There were exactly 7085 enrolled, many of whom gave 
less than the attendance rquired by law. In the Twelfth Annual 
Report of the City Superintendent of Schools of New York it is 
stated that " It has been found that, in spite of the best efforts 
on the part of the attendance officers, it is very difficult, and in 
many cases impossible, to keep these boys at evening school." 

Physicians, labor organizations, social workers, and educators are 
agreed that the attendance upon the evening schools of immature 
children under 16 years of age after a long day's labor, usually 
from eight to nine hours, injures them physically out of all propor- 
tion to any educational benefit they might receive and actually 
shortens at the upper end of their lives, the period of working 
efficiency. John M. O'Hanlon, editor of the Legislative News, the 
official journal of the New York State Federation of Labor, said in 
a recent address, " The present system of night schools for child 
workers is a hateful outgrowth of the employment of child labor." 

The comj)ulsory attendance of permit children on evening classes 
can not be justified from either the educational, social, or economic 
standpoint. Fatigued mentally as well as physically they fall asleep 
at their books and practically all of them are not in a proper con- 
dition to receive instruction. At their age they need after working 
hours relaxation, games, recreation, amusement, rather than close 
confinement to study. Administrative conditions are such that to 
a large extent these permit children must be taught in ungraded 
classes for illiterates along with adults whicii makes it impossible 
to give either group the instruction which is best -for them. 

It has been found practically impossible to give to these children 
in evening classes the vocational instruction which they need fully 
as much as they need elementary school training. Experience shows 
that education in vocational subjects can be given successfully only 
in addition to general instruction through part-time and continua- 
tion schools. Evening vocational school work is best for children 



38 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

over i6 years of age and day vocational schools of every kind 
begin to be effective after 14. By placing permit children in part- 
time and continuation classes during the day, the work of the 
evening classes would be very much improved for adults who can 
then receive, in part at least, instruction complementary to their 
daily work. The results from the required attendance of permit 
boys on evening school instruction have been so unsatisfactory as 
to make it very evident that it does not justify the large cost and 
comparative waste of time on the part of these children. 

Furthermore the new law makes possible the carrying out of the 
recommendation of the State Factory Investigation Committee when 
it said, " We consider one of the most crying needs in our present 
industrial system, the continued education of children who are 
obliged to go to work at an early age. . . . We strongly com- 
mend this subject to the attention of the various departments of 
education, state and local, and hope that continuation schools for 
children who have gone to work will soon be a reality." 

Both of these laws have a background of education and social 
suggestiveness much to their credit. Many children leave school 
when they are 14 and go to work in industries unprofitable to their 
development. To stay in the regular school divorced from activities 
and confined to traditional subject matter apart from the race 
heritage of doing, making, growing things and at the same time to 
live in an unoccupational home is a hardship to any normal youth ; 
and on the other hand, to work in a factory or store at a kind of 
work profitable only as measured by a meager wage, to learn one 
operation to the profit of the employer and to the loss of real growth 
to the child, to ask for a change of work and be told that his pay 
envelop is at the cashier's desk, are matters of deep concern to all 
who believe in creating human as well as material wealth. 

Furthermore, there is an industrial problem. The industrial 
revolution made the employment of children profitable to the 
employer and possible to production. It developed the subdivision 
of labor, and the apprenticeship of the olden time necessarily broke 
down. The employer, no longer an individual, is now the com- 
pany ; the child worker a number and not a name. 

It will be noted that this State has enacted permissive rather 
than compulsory continuation school legislation. This procedure 
is in contrast with that of several other states which have passed 
laws making continuation school work compulsory. The permissive 
legislation of this State will answer, through the wise teacher — 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 39 

experience — some of the questions which even a State investigation 
can never thoroughly solve on paper, leaving the results of our 
local experimentation to be wisely incorporated into law as fast 
as their merits justify. 

There are many difficulties in the way of establishing and main- 
taining compulsory continuation schools : there is a lack of com- 
petent local leaders to cooperate with those clothed with the au- 
thority of the State ; there is a lack of competent teachers who can 
immediately put into practice the spirit and methods of continua- 
tion school instruction; there is a lack of judgment based upon 
experience on the part of all of us of the manner of approach to 
the statewide compulsory enforcement; and finally, there is a lack 
of sympathy and knowledge on the part of employers and the 
general public of the purposes of such instruction. 

Any system of part-time instruction made compulsory at the 
present time will probably lead to a reduction in the number of 
young employees and possibly even to the discharge in some in- 
dustries of all children under i6 because the employers would not 
know how to harmonize the production with compulsory continua- 
tion instruction. This sudden discharge of youthful workers from 
{production and their return to the public schools would throw upon 
the latter a sudden burden which they could not adequately and 
immediately meet. Furthermore, no state should work on the basis 
that part-time instruction is the only solution of the educational 
and industrial questions which enter into the 14 to 16 year old 
employment period of youth, for there is a problem of dealing with 
the child before he has left school which is fully as important as 
attempting to deal with him after he has taken the first job which 
offers an opportunity for employment. In fact, we need a more 
adequate working knowledge of the needs and possibilities of all 
boys and girls and more adequate knowledge of the possibilities of 
productive work and its relation to human wealth ; more knowledge 
of the working possibilities of our schools, our children, our in- 
dustries. And this knowledge can best be gained through prelimi- 
nary surveys and local experimentation with permissive legislation 
looking toward the establishment of part-time and continuation 
schools. 

W^e might raise the following (|uestions regarding schools, chil- 
dren and industries: Why do children leave school? Is it due to 
work ill-suited to their needs and to poor teaching? Is it due to 
economic pressure? Or, after all, is it best for them to leave? 



40 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

Or, are they better off in school? Are they physically able to do 
the productive work which they plan to undertake? Will they 
develop into good citizens through the work which they do in pro- 
ductive labor? What does the future offer to them while at work? 
Can they be better trained for industry and citizenship in school 
before going to work or better trained for both after having en- 
tered productive employment? After they have gone to work, what 
type or types of education should they have to make them more 
efficient, to fit them for promotion, to make them better citizens? 
Are there some industries which offer no genuine developmental 
opportunities for children? Should the state, as guardian of child 
welfare, pass laws forbidding children to work in such industries? 
And, finally, can any one scheme of compulsory attendance upon 
school or any one solution of this pressing problem be considered 
in a state system of democratic education? 

It might be well to examine in detail the methods of continua- 
tion instruction to see if they are of statewide application. Any 
plan for carrying out continuation school work must involve some 
one of three types of education: (i) bookwork in school or in 
the productive unit, which supplements the practical work of the 
shop, store, farm or household with theoretical instruction relating 
to the vocational experience of the pupil while at production; or 
(2) bookwork which deals with fundamentals of a training for 
citizenship without reference to correlation of technical subjects in 
the school to vocational experience outside the school; or (3) book- 
work which includes both the first and the second propositions. 

If the bookwork is to supplement the practical work gained 
through vocational experience, then it follows that for a natural 
sequence and progress of the continuation school work in the school, 
the shop or store experience must have an accompanying sequence 
and progress. It is not difficult to assume that a well-organized 
factory manufacturing machine tools can adjust its productive 
methods in such a manner as to provide systematic and progressive 
trade instruction. It is easy to believe that a progressive 
manufacturer would welcome and participate in a plan of coordi- 
nating his shopwork with technical instruction in the school, and 
already we have the experience of several such individuals to guide 
us, but how we are to coordinate technical bookwork with the pro- 
ductive methods of a shoe factory with sixty-four types of machines 
and its one hundred sixteen processes is a problem which is as yet 
unsolved. It is one thing to look with favor upon a Fitchburg, 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 4I 

Beverly or Cincinnati plan applied to the machine trade industries, 
and a far different thing to make similar applications to shoe, textile, 
rubber, paper box, artificial flower and machine-operating industries. 

It is not clear whether it is possible to carry on part-time in- 
struction even in the best shops and stores without so organizing 
the productive work of the latter that the productive labor of youth 
is set apart from the rest of the productive units and forms in itself 
a unit wherein it does its work irrespective of the general demands 
of the factory or shop production or distribution ; in other words, 
the school-factory within and yet apart from the general productive 
effort. 

One might raise a question as to whether the Beverly plan is 
applicable to a city having thousands of concerns of every sort or 
whether the Fitchburg plan of cooperation in relatively small cities 
is possible in a city like Chicago, whether the Cincinnati plan in a 
city of civic pride and well-knitted productive interests presided 
over by enthusiasts who had the confidence of manufacturers, is 
likely to be duplicated in a city like Detroit with concerns manu- 
facturing a similar product but working under severe competition. 

If continuation school methods involve supplementation of the 
practical work in production, then it might as well be recognized 
first as last that progressive technical bookwork must be accom- 
panied by progressive shop or factory or store work and it must 
be admitted that there is less and less tendency in nearly every 
vocation carried on in factories for a progressive advancement of 
the worker from process to process. A continuation school plan 
involving technical applications in the school must be accompanied 
by a revival or redevelopment of the apprenticeship system. Evi- 
dently this can not be done in every vocation and if it can not be 
done, then compulsory continuation schools where school work- 
supplements shopwork is out of the question for every industry. 

But an enthusiast suggests that a law be passed that will force 
an apprenticeship system upon all production. In other words, the 
manufacturer is to be told how he must manufacture his products. 
It is readily granted that the State can regulate the hours of labor, 
amount of factory light, the age of entrance to factory life, even 
the very wages themselves, for the public can pay the bills. But to 
attempt to regulate by state legislation the actual processes them- 
selves within the factory without raising the question whether the 
factory can offer work refjuiring skill ; to tell the industrial revolu- 
tion to turn back and retrace its steps ; to designate the length of 



42 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

time that a boy shall run a lathe or punch press or drop punch ; to 
attempt to control the wheels within the factory, is a step toward 
state regulation of industry which is difficult to follow. 

The apprenticeship systems in the unskilled trades are not found 
and even a superficial investigation shows that many occupations 
do not lead to an acceptable trade and do not require an apprentice- 
ship of two or three years. A worker may become skilled in a 
few months' time and does not require a general apprenticeship. 
A statewide apprenticeship contract would be lightly held by both 
employer and child worker; on the part of the employer because 
of the sudden changes in quantity of production requiring greater 
or smaller number of apprentices which means a constant hiring and 
discharging of youthful workers, a condition which did not exist 
in the old days of production; on the part of the youth because he 
would hold lightly his apprenticeship contract, he would imitate his 
elders and obey the call of the dollar. Punishment for each party 
might be suggested, but we must remember that public sentiment is 
no longer in touch with the spirit of the old apprenticeship days. 

It even may be true that the industrial revolution is to go even 
further; that more and more workers under its system are to be 
hedged in by mechanical processes which in themselves are deaden- 
ing. It may be that all of us are to work, so to speak, in the base- 
ment of society ; that we are to work in the way this world demands, 
expressing, for a part of the day, society and subordinating our- 
selves. In the morning of our work it may be that we are to be 
selected for our latent capacities, that we are to be Taylorized into 
holding our hands efficiently, to lift effectively, to move quickly, 
to follow directions definitely and that the accumulations of science 
and genius, the ideas and experiences of others will be at our 
service to show us how to work, and that perhaps we shall be able 
to earn as much daily in five hours as formerly in nine. But for 
the rest of the day it may be that we are to take our stands as in- 
dividuals on the ground floor of the world, that in the morning of 
our work in the world industrial we are selected, but in the evening 
of our living, we ourselves select and when we are away from the 
machine we owe it to ourselves and to society to express ourselves. 
It may be that society will wake up some day to realize that we have 
made machines out of ourselves, but instead of doing away with 
the machine and saying that it is dead, we will say that it is only 
mechanically-minded men that are dead. Instead of railing at the 
dead machine we shall speak of the dead men at the machine. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 43 

But to turn away from prophesying. Although it is said that 
the practical man is now the one who can make the best guess on 
tomorrow, being a prophet in these days is almost smug and re- 
spectable. 

If the book work in the unskilled industries and those which pro- 
vide for little or no supplementation is to deal with training for 
citizenship and for a house of leisure irrespective of the methods 
of shop production or technical supplementation of shop practice, 
then one sees a large and legitimate field of educational activity for 
youth between 14 and 16. But whether this training is to be given 
in an all-day school before entering the factory or in a continuation 
school after entrance upon productive labor is a momentous ques- 
tion, one which has long been and is yet unanswered. Of course, 
some good people would hold youth in school until the judgment 
day with a perfect faith in its value and irrespective of what the 
child was taught or what it needed. And others would say that so 
long as the school and the home fail to furnish any occupational 
work; fail to satisfy that race heritage, strong in adolescence, of a 
desire for actual accomplishment and not merely study about it, 
that it would be better for youth to go to work where it can learn 
how to do by doing, how to observe by observing, how to be in- 
dustrious by industry. 

But in order to give a boy or girl concrete experience, is it neces- 
sary to tag him to the nearest factory or store? In order to know 
the length of a yard must the girl Ije at the ribbon counter in the 
five cent store? In order to find out the location of the. streets of 
the city, must a boy be shoved into the messenger service? We 
appreciate that the upper elementary schools are decidedly weak in 
their occupational work. We know that the home has turned its 
back upon giving children opportunities for working out their sal- 
vation through productive labor. We know that children need to 
realize the activity experiences carried on through the medium of 
hand work which will assist them to an appreciation of the means 
and methods by which society accomplishes its work. We know 
that children should have occupational experiences which will serve 
to assist them to define an occupational purpose in life by offering 
a basis for an intelligent choice through the variety of experiences 
offered. 

In short, instead of placing too much reliance upon educational 
benefits accruing from compulsory continuation school work and 
believing that it will solve all the educational and industrial prob- 



44 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

lems concerned with employed youth, it might be better to re-create 
and revitaHze our present educational machinery for developing 
a sane comprehensive plan for furthering the educative process 
for youth before it goes to work and then as our means allow and 
our keenness of judgment dictated, to grapple thoroughly, thought- 
fully and earnestly with the more complex educational and in- 
dustrial problems concerned with the child while at work. We 
must decide whether day schools can be made effective before we 
destroy their effectiveness by practically urging every one to go 
to work and return to school for their education, for this is what 
it amounts to in much of our continuation school work. If one 
doubts the statement, he should examine the instruction given in the 
average corporation school or in the average public continuation 
school. Its program teaches boys the number of one-tenth inches in 
an inch ; the girls are figuring the cost of five-eights of a yard at 
37^ cents a yard ; the writing of a business letter ; the ringing in 
of a time clock with punctuality ; the keeping of the hands clean 
in handling ribbon; the volume of a piece of cast iron and such 
similar problems as show that pupils before they enter upon pro- 
ductive work had failed to make good in a concrete test involving 
accuracy, application, neatness and business integrity. 

We hear a great deal about the German continuation schools, of 
the cooperation of manufacturers and school men, of the assistance 
given to the movement by labor unions. We must remember that 
America is the center of an industrial and social movement which 
is in marked contrast with that of Germany. It would be well if 
trade unions of America took as much interest in the technic of the 
trade as they do in the house and wages; if the manufacturers had 
the guild spirit and less of the lobby spirit; if America had the 
heavy hand of an emperor instead of the uncertain hand of a public 
conscience whose ears are often deaf and whose eyes are often 
closed. If America had the manufacturing methods of southern 
Germany, the cooperative efforts of manufacturers and unions, 
the discipline of an emperor, the " stand " notion of the German 
parent, we might copy, if we would, the German system of con- 
tinuation schools. 

It may be, however, that America will solve its whole in- 
dustrial education problem in its own way, that an American plan 
will be developed which will meet two well-established factors — 
American educational institutions and American methods of pro- 
duction. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 45 

It is the business of the State to train its youth toward the 
permanent requirements of industry. Such requirements are good 
health that the worker may withstand the nervous strain of modern 
production, personal and socialized character to assist in the solu- 
tion of tremendous economic problems which are arising in the 
labor world, certain elements of citizenship training in order that 
we may have industrial justice in our democracy, mental capacity 
that the worker may think as well as operate, and finally, funda- 
mental skill exchangeable in various branches of a trade or between 
various trades themselves. It may even be that the state should 
leave it to the industries themselves to train their youth in the 
exacting and minute processes of the various differentiated lines 
of activity by a factory and office apprenticeship system maintained 
at their own expense. It may even be that the state should forbid 
young people between 14 and 16 to work in certain types of in- 
dustries. If such children are over 16 years of age it may be that 
they are to be returned to the day school for a few hours a week 
for part-time work in specialized branches of the craft at the ex- 
pense of the employer and with the cooperation of the state. Or, 
it may be that the school is to go to the factory and establish 
within the works classroom instruction. 

It may be that if the child between 14 and 16 is to be allowed 
to work, the line of work which is given to him in the con- 
tinuation school should, in the great majority of our industries, deal 
with citizenship training only, and if any technical instruction is 
given, it should be along lines which would train him away from 
his present occupation into one which could fit him to do the work 
which he will be required to do when he is an adult. 

It may be that a state which seriously proposes to do something 
definite for its youthful citizenship and for its industries by a com- 
prehensive educational plan will think of the educative process as 
being under two great divisions. One might be called the " way 
in " education — an education practically common to all pupils ; 
dealing in the elements of citizenship, studies of language, history, 
geography, a training in the rudiments of arithmetic and elemen- 
tary science, an appreciation of nature, music and the decorative 
arts, a training of hand skill with its correlative development of 
mentality. This education is to be given to pupils before they leave 
school at the age of i6, by the combined efforts of the home, the 
environment, and the schoolhouse. 

The other phase of education might be called the " way out " 
education. It is specifically adapted to individual needs — voca- 



46 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

tional in a narrow sense, social in its broadest interpretation — 
given informally as well as formally through every social, educa- 
tional and civic agency whose good works can in any way contribute 
to that educative process which will make people after they have 
gone to work more contented, more efficient, more open-minded and 
better citizens of an industrial democracy. 

Such a program is truly American. It is not copied from the 
class versus caste educational system of a Germany ; nor the culture 
versus chattel civilization of a Greece; nor the gentleman versus 
peasant system of a France ; nor the Oxford versus London slum 
plan of an England. It is based upon a democracy of equality 
of educational opportunity. Its plan is developed on the basis that 
every child is a ward of the State up to at least i6 years of age; 
that the State has the right to see that his health is conserved, to 
guard when necessary his morals, to watch over his parents and 
compel them to let him go to school, to protect him from harmful 
child labor. The state is to do everything in its power to make the 
child able to meet the physical and mental emergencies of life ade- 
quately; make him happy in the joy of cheerful labor; assist him in 
learning to use the eye and hand in useful yet beautiful craft work, 
bring him to the point of enjoying that character building which 
comes only with actual participation in the processes of feeling, 
seeing, thinking, doing ; help him discover his aptitudes and in- 
terests and send him on the road to a vocation with some knowl- 
edge of its direction and some proficiency in walking thereon. 
These are some of the steps in the educative process which mark 
the " way in." 

Let us assume that the child has now left school. He is now 
on the road. It is long, confusing, with many turns and pitfalls. 
It is filled with automatic machines, business systems, new inven- 
tions displacing the labor of his hands. It has monotony, competi- 
tion, unrest. It has the burden of long hours, low wages, and in- 
dustrial diseases. It is mile-stoned with confusing signals, signs and 
beckonings. 

The state again seeks its opportunity to meet its obligations. It 
has a new point of view. It no longer raises the heavy hand of 
command over large groups of children, parents or employers. 
Its attitude is that of offering opportunities for the individual 
worker and the individual employer to find his " way out." The 
state has its optional part-time school where its youth may learn 
the technic of a new process ; where the housewife may learn of 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 47 

labor-saving devices. It has its evening schools for further in- 
struction in the technic of the craft or for the intellectual up-lift 
of the saleswoman, the machine tender, the day laborer. It has its 
state correspondence courses where the coal shoveler may study 
between the firings of the boiler, where the lonely signal operator 
may receive his first lessons in the mysterious force which his levers 
direct. It has its summer extension work for the agricultural 
teacher and winter courses for the farmer's boy who has the leisure 
which awaits the coming of spring. It has its municipal theater; 
its civic center ; its people's gymnasium ; its playgrounds and parks 
to amuse a wornout mind, build up a tired body and reclaim a 
spirit lost in the maze of industrialism. 

Permanent needs of industry, vital needs of children, funda- 
mental needs of human society can never be met by any narrower 
conception of the educative process. 

The following questions relative to continuation school work are 
yet to be answered in this State : 

1 Is is practical to develop a continuation school in a community 
of two thousand people having one industry and employing a small 
number of children, say, for example, seven? 

With 170 possible communities with a population of less than 
2000, in the State, there are but 42 that have a dominant industry 
and employ more than 100 people. More than 50 per cent of these 
industries are classified under the head of " unskilled " and do not 
require a high degree of training. Upon investigation of the census 
report it is clearly evident that less than 5 per cent of the manu- 
facturing in the State of New York is carried on in communities 
with a population of less than 2000. 

2 Is it wise for a state like New York with 50 per cent of its 
school districts having a valuation of less than $60,000 to ask these 
small communities to develop continuation instruction when they 
can not properly support their present education ? 

3 Will the employers in all types of industry cooperate in the 
establishment of continuation school work? 

4 Can the work done by young people in all industries be so 
arranged that they can be dismissed from the factory for a few 
hours a week without damage to the manufacturing process? 

5 What kind of school training will meet the permanent require- 
ments of industry and the permanent requirements of citizenship? 

6 Is it possible to expect employers to pay the same wage as 
they now pay for five to eight hours less work in the factory, due 
to attendance upon continuation school? 



48 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

7 Can a complete program of part-time schooling be put im- 
mediately into operation and not greatly complicate the problem 
of public education, adding as it will in any state of moderate size, 
from 50,000 to 150,000 children to the number already attending 
public schools? 

8 Is it possible to develop a body of teachers competent to deal 
with continuation school instruction in such a way that pupils will 
learn through a study of real things and not through a line of ab- 
stract thinking? 

9 Is part-time schooling practical in all industries which em- 
ploy children under 16 years of age? 

10 Is it wise for the State to train definitely children of 14 years 
of age for lines of work which it knows lacks permanency to youth 
and in all probability are not permanent needs in the industry? 

11 Is it practical or wise to give supplementary instruction re- 
lating to the temporary occupations of childhood, that is, delivery 
wagon boys, telegraph messengers, elevator boys, doll makers, etc.? 

12 Should the State be a partner to an educational device for 
fitting children so perfectly to carry on their nonpermanent em- 
ployment that they can never successfully get out of that em- 
ployment? 

The following description is indicative of the methods employed 
in one type of continuation school work, the problems to be met 
and the results. likely to be attained: 

An experiment in continuation school work. An experimental 
continuation trade class was opened in public school 4, New York 
City. The work covered a period of ten weeks and the class was 
composed of sixteen white-goods workers, four young workers 
being selected from four prominent business establishments. The 
girls attended the class on alternate weeks in groups of eight. A 
written report stating absences and character of work was submitted 
to the employer on Friday afternoon. The wage for the week was 
based upon this report, deduction being made for absence as in the 
shop. The hours were from 8.30 a. m. to 5 p. m. with one-half 
hour intermission, for luncheon. 

From 8.30 to 12.30 the program was as follows: trade arithmetic, 
spelling, English to foreigners, business letter writing, trade geog- 
raphy, hygiene for the worker, special corrective gymnastics, civics 
based upon the need of an intelligent understanding of the relations 
of the members of a trade to one another and to the State, ethics, 
preparation of noon lunch, elementary study of food and its rela- 



2 


years 


6 


years' 


I 


year's 


b 


years' 


I 


year's 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 49 

tion to health and efficiency. The program from 2 to 5 o'clock 
was as follows : study of the mechanism of a foot-power machine, 
how to run it and how to keep it in order; elementary study of 
textile (cotton goods) ; making of whole garment with emphasis 
upon the general setting of each girl's particular (shop) process 
to whole of the industry. The instructors were a regular teacher 
in the school, a special teacher of domestic science, and a graduate 
of Pratt Institute, who taught textiles. 

Thirteen girls remained and completed the course. Of these, 
4 were born in the United States, 4 in Russia, 2 in Italy, 2 in 
Hungary and i in Austria. 

2 had never attended school. 

I had had i year's schooling abroad, none in United States. 

3 " 

I 

I " I year's " 3 months in United States. 

I "0 years' " none in United States. 

I " I year's " 2 months evening school in 

United States. 

1 " 6 years' " none in United States. 

2 " 7^ years' 

2 were 24 years of age. 
I was 25 " 

1 was 19 " 

3 were 18 " 

2 were ly " 

4 were i6 " 

2 received a wage of $4 — $8.50 a week. 
4 " $5 -$8.50 " 

2 " $6 — $9.50 " 

I " $7 — $8 

I " $6 — $12 

I " $8 

The following shop processes were represented : 4 seaming, 3 
pressing, 2 lace running, 2 finishing, i button hole operating, i entire 
sleevemaking. 

Each worker made from 2 to 8 garments. The total output was 
65 whole garments. 

The cost of the ten weeks' experiment was : to the four manu- 
facturers, approximately $450, for wages of workers while at 



50 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

school and for material ; to the Singer Sewing Machine Co., the 
salary of the textile teacher for fifty half days and the use of eight 
powerf oot machines ; to the city department of education, nothing. 
The principal writes : " This ten-weeks' experiment was the out- 
come of a generous and public-spirited offer on the part of the 
manufacturers. It elicited a swift and equally generous response 
from the department of education. The statistics presented in- 
dicate the great need of this cooperative work between the shop 
and the school. The response of these particular workers to the 
opportunity presented was all that one could desire. Their whole 
general attitude toward their employers and toward their work has 
become more wholesome, and they are beginning to feel that life is 
an exchange of services. These girls are better workers and better 
citizens than they were three months ago." 

EVENING VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 
The law defines State-aided evening vocational schools as being 
those in which instruction is given in the trades and in industrial, 
agricultural and homemaking subjects, and which are open to pupils 
over 1 6 years of age, who are regularly and lawfully employed 
during the day, and which provide instruction in subjects related 
to the practical work carried on in such employment. The law 
provides, however, that when such evening vocational schools pro- 
vide instruction in homemaking they shall be open to all women 
over i6 years of age who are employed in any capacity during 
the day. 

The law defines very definitely the type of instruction which 
shall be given to the men and boys in these schools. It is to be 
related to the practical work carried on by the pupil in his daily 
employment. In the case of women and girls, however, instruction 
in homemaking is open to all without reference to their daily em- 
ployment. The difference in the type of instruction between men 
and women is significant. It suggests that men will require a line 
of evening school work which will be of service to them in their 
present employment. It implies that women will find most useful 
a type of instruction which leads toward the home and away from 
their present employment. 

This distinction points out what is perhaps a most unfortunate 
tendency of the industries in that it places the women and girls 
in the highly specialized occupations requiring little or no educa- 
tional preparation. While it seems impracticable to deprive girls 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 5 1 

from 14 to 20 of the opportunities for wage-earning, on the other 
hand it is certainly undesirable that during this period there should 
be no preparation for homemaking interests. Society is undoubtedly 
requiring that the two functions become harmonized, to the end 
that the welfare of the individual and the soundness of society may 
at the same time be conserved. Thus the law relating to evening 
vocational instruction for women is attempting to meet this twofold 
problem. 

It is not to be understood that evening vocational classes for 
women are limited only to women who are engaged in the unskilled" 
industries. This work usually includes practical training in such 
subjects as cooking, needlework in plain sewing and garment mak- 
ing and the trimming of hats, all for domestic purposes and for 
all women who are employed in any capacity during the day. It 
may include and should include the training of girls in evening 
classes for dressmaking and millinery trades as well as giving them 
training in these lines as household accomplishments. There are 
at least six groups of girls to be considered in providing for evening 
instruction : ( i ) shop and factory girls who seek additional train- 
ing looking to greater efficiency and wage-earning capacity in the 
occupations in which they are employed; (2) housewives and home- 
makers who seek training in the theory and technic of household 
economy ; (3) girls engaged in household service who seek technical 
training in domestic economy looking to greater efficiency and wage- 
earning capacity in their calling; (4) shop and factory girls seek- 
ing training in order that they may shift from one wage-earning 
occupation to another closely related to the one in which they are 
engaged; (5) shop, factory, office and store girls who seek some 
simple training in some activity as a personal and convenient ac- 
complishment but not looking toward following up this training 
for wage-earning purposes; (6) those girls of a type similar to the 
aforementioned who are now working but soon expect to enter the 
home as wives and homemakers. 

A study of the whole field of evening school work is most ab- 
sorbing and the question of the approach of our supplemental edu- 
cation in its relation to industry is no small part of that field. It 
is unfortunate that there is such a distinct line of cleavage between 
periods of formal education and wage-earning work. Our young 
men and women should be workers, and yet always students with 
enough time to spare from both for recreation and full enjoyment 
of life. While it may be visionary to hope that some day there will 



52 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

be this close connection between school and life, everyone must 
regret at least that the majority of our people look upon education 
as a schooling occupying the first few years of life, during which 
they do little or no work, and this schooling over, are ready to enter 
the industrial world with few if any opportunities for further 
study, save those which the exceptionally ambitious man or woman 
will create for himself. 

There are certain fundamental principles to be followed in the 
conduct of evening school work. First, it must deal with two 
rather distinct classes: (a) students proper, constituting the small 
minority who seek a general education with definite student pur- 
pose, but often under rather unusual personal conditions; (b) non- 
student class, constituting the large majority, who, by suggestion 
or counsel, seek educational help in the solution of some present 
problem or in fitting for some special service. Second, the scheme 
of work offered must make the various features elective to a maxi- 
mum degree. While the ideas of the schoolman can and must prevail 
in the day schools, the individual notions of a mature student will 
dominate his selection of subjects in the evening schools. Third, 
the work must be flexible enough in its adaption to meet individual, 
special and even transient needs and conditions. Fourth, the sub- 
jects must be presented in small and varied units. Fifth, the 
various units of work must be so scheduled that sequential arrange- 
ment in courses is possible when desired. It should even be en- 
couraged. Sixth, all forms of work must glow with the re-creative 
element, both in subject matter and treatment. Seventh, the work 
must, in many of its rudimentary forms, aim at suggestion and 
inspiration, rather than complete or thorough training. Eighth, 
the work must seek to increase the student's capacity to live 
efficiently and largely, rather than to promote the accumulation of 
knowledge or the development of scholastic ability. Ninth, much 
stress must be laid on the teaching itself. By suggestion and 
personal cooperation, the teacher can to a wonderful degree awaken 
and develop a mind rendered mentally inactive by disassociation 
with educational forces. Tenth, the work must have its own dis- 
tinct ideals, methods and estimates of value, based upon the cur- 
rent conditions and individual needs of the nonstudent class rather 
than on regular school standards which are primarily applicable to 
the student class. 

This preliminary survey of the whole field of supplemental edu- 
cation has been made in order to bring out the growing import- 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 53 

ance of the movement. An important educational move in the 
immediate future will be in the direction of improving the instruc- 
tion of evening schools and adapting them to the needs of industrial 
workers. Undoubtedly the methods of these schools should be 
recast. They should adapt themselves to modern industrial con- 
ditions, and through proper instruction in practical subjects, touch 
more closely the economic life of the times. The pupils in these 
schools have already received a more or less formal education in 
the public schools. They are receiving in their daily work incidental 
industrial experience, and have learned from this thorough but 
expensive teacher, that they are deficient in some lines ; hence, this 
endeavor, outside their working hours, to fit themselves for definite 
lines of activity. 

There are certain vital needs in the organization and methods of 
conducting evening industrial improvement schools. In common 
with all supplemental education, voluntarily sought, these schools, 
as has already been implied, deal definitely with two rather distinct 
classes. The first are those who are naturally students and seek 
educational advantages in the advanced lines of mathematics, me- 
chanics, chemistry etc. with a definite purpose. Cooper Union of 
New York City and Pratt Institute of Brooklyn, in their applied 
science courses, appeal to this class of students. The second class 
are those who are not naturally students, who still, with a more or 
less definite aim, seek educational help in the solution of some 
present and pressing problem which involves special educational 
service. The latter class is concerned with shop mathematics, plan 
reading, shop practice, etc. Most of the academic shop instruc- 
tion in the Stuyvesant Evening School of Trades, New York City, 
the evening industrial classes in Albany, Troy, Syracuse, Elmira, 
the various evening trade schools in Buffalo, New York, Rochester, 
Yonkers, and sinfilar schools, reach this group of students. The 
recognition of these two classes means that the courses of instruc- 
tion must be of two kinds — one comparing favorably with the 
day school work in its general scheme; the other, the major part, 
difi'ering decidedly in methods from those ordinarily pursued. 

Evening school instruction must appeal to the student imme- 
diately at the beginning of his work. The subject matter of the 
early lessons must satisfy the student's need as he has defined it. 
The success of evening instruction absolutely depends upon this 
principle. 

For example, a young machinist has received a reprimand from 
his foreman because he can not read a working drawing with suffi- 



54 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

cient skill to do properly his daily work. He enrols in a drafting 
course to meet that deficiency and finds that the first two lessons 
are concerned with letter plates, the next three with drawing straight 
and curved lines and the handling of instruments, and that the 
remainder of the term is to be spent on the projection of points, 
lines, surfaces and solids. During this time he is receiving in his 
daily work the same reprimands, and is therefore debating in his 
own mind the value of his evening instruction. 

It is undoubtedly true that the drawing course here outlined is 
a proper one for teaching mechanical drawing to those who are 
to be draftsmen, but the average apprentice machinist does not 
see the direct application of this instruction to his work. He en- 
rolled for a definite purpose. To be sure, it was a narrow one, 
but nevertheless it had economic value to him. It would be per- 
fectly possible to give in the first evening some elementary instruc- 
tion in the reading of simple drawings ; to teach him in five lessons 
where to look for the dimensions denoting length, breadth and thick- 
ness ; to show him the principles of simple sectional drawings and 
to cause him to comprehend the laying out of holes for drilling. 

Instead of leaving school at the end of the fifth lesson, with no 
instruction which appealed to him, he would have received enough 
in those five lessons to fit him to meet the demands of his fore- 
man and it is more than likely that he would have remained in the 
drafting class to receive the more definite and thorough instruction 
in the theory of mechanical drawing such as must be gained if one 
is fully to comprehend and cover the entire range of the subject. 

It has already been stated that the various features must be elec- 
tive and flexible and presented in small and varied units. Instead 
of presenting in a course of study the subjects of arithmetic, 
geometry etc., there should be printed " arithmetic for mechanics," 
" arithmetic for clerks," " mechanical drawing for apprentices," 
etc. Where it is possible, even a finer differentiation is desirable, 
such as " arithmetic for plumbers," " arithmetic for errand boys," 
" mechanical drawings for machine tenders," etc. Not only will 
this presentation serve to catch the eye of the prospective student, 
but it will also suggest to him that special effort is to be made in 
the class work to help him in his daily occupation. This form of 
advertising is a reason for much of the success of the correspond- 
ence schools. The instruction in the various branches must be 
adapted to the needs of the various occupations. The terms used in 
the classroom must savor of the shop, office and store. Experience 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 55 

shows that the problem, " What is }i of 37}^ ? " does not appeal 
so much to a clerk as the problem, " What will }i of a yard of cloth 
cost at 371^ cents a yard ? " On the other hand, the latter problem 
does not awaken the interest of the mechanic as much as the prob- 
lem involving the same operations which reads, " If a copper cast- 
ings weighs 37y2 pounds and specific gravity of iron is •)4 of that 
of copper, what will the casting weigh if made of iron? 

The student will do better work if the instruction in the related 
branches of certain occupations is given under one teacher, rather 
than under the departmental system of specialists in each branch. 
The student should not elect more than two or three subjects, the 
major one bearing directly upon his daily work, the others some- 
what related to the main one. It is this major subject which has 
drawn the student into the school and it is this which will keep 
him there if, along with it, one or two allied subjects are taught 
in a practical manner by the teacher of the major subject. The 
student will understand better the connection between these sub- 
jects because the teacher has himself a clear conception of the re- 
lationship. For instance, a machinist enrols in an evening school 
for mechanical drawing, and finds that he needs to brush up in 
fractions and decimals and that he needs square root in order to 
work out a formula for screw threads. The opportune time to 
teach him these topics is when the need for them arises, and none 
is more qualified to give the required practical instruction in such 
topics than a competent drawing teacher. In Yonkers the teacher 
of machine shop practice devotes a portion of the time to teaching 
shop mathematics to his students. When large classes demand 
assistant teachers, these assistants should be assigned to teaching 
applied mathematics through individual instruction at the drawing 
table and benches, or to giving instruction to small groups in an 
adjoining room, keeping before the mind of the student the direct 
connection between arithmetic and handwork. When the student 
has reached a place in the drafting course dealing with the subject 
of screw threads, it becomes necessary for him to apply some such 
formula as P^o.24 V d -|- 0.625 — 0.175 where P is the pitch of 
the thread and d is the diameter of the bolt. This problem involves 
square root and decimals. One hour of individual or small group in- 
struction by the drawing teacher will give the student the necessary 
familiarity with these mathematical processes to make them suffi- 
ciently clear to him in their application to the formula. Instead of 
thorough preparation in mathematics before electing mechanical 



56 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

drawing, it would be better to have the mechanical drawing lead 
the students into mathematics. 

Students must be grouped in the vocational classes according to 
their trade or business. The old workingman's guilds were founded 
for the purpose of social intercourse and mental stimulus. Each 
trade had its own guild. The daily trade experiences of each 
member became the property of all members. Discussions relating 
to the practices of their chosen trade occupied their attention. 

It is easily seen that students grouped according to occupation 
have an opportunity to talk over their trade interests, the teacher 
acting as a leader and securing from the students expressions of 
their trade experiences, through which they obtain the most practi- 
cal solution of the particular problem at hand. Teachers who have 
had evening school experience know how difficult it is to get the 
students to recite and express themselves at the blackboard. A 
free discussion of the point at issue makes the student lose his 
self-consciousness and before he is aware of it he is at the board 
illustrating his particular method of solution. 

Already many of our day schools which have well-ec[uipped shops 
and drawing rooms are offering night courses and are thus bring- 
ing to our attention a sensible solution of the relationship which 
should exist between factory workers and the public schools. These 
schools are instrumental in bringing about a more general system 
of trade instruction throughout the country because of their direct 
exemplification of the benefits of trade training, even if this train- 
ing is given only to those who are already employed during the 
day in shops and factories. The plan costs but little. The build- 
ings and internal equipment already exist. There is no cost of 
maintenance beyond the necessary heat, light, power, materials 
and instruction. Classes are being conducted in machine shop prac- 
tice, plumbing, patternmaking, cabinet work, electricity, drawing, 
shop mathematics, etc. The courses as planned for these several 
departments are as thorough and complete as it is possible to make 
them in an evening school. The attendance upon these schools is 
very large and remarkably constant, being better than that in most 
night schools. In this way men already employed in the trades, 
who know, therefore, at least a part of the trade in which they are 
employed, are given an opportunity to broaden their mechanical 
training and to make themselves more efficient workmen. 

Following is a list of some of the courses ofifered in the evening 
vocational schools in the State. That the list must be necessarily 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 



57 



abridged is clearly seen when it is stated that the city of Rochester 
ofifers one hundred two evening vocational courses, many of which 
are of the " short unit "' order, and employs one hundred two 
teachers to carry on this instruction. 



Structural engineering design 

Plan reading and estimating 

Patent office drawing 

Sheet metal patternmaking 

Telephones 

Electric lights 

Elements of alternating currents 

Armature winding 

Storage batteries 

Steam engineering 

Forging for machinists 

Forging for masons and stonecutters 

Course for horseshoers 

Steel welding 

Printing 

Window frame making 

Sash making 

Door frame making 

Door making 

Wainscot making 

Frame building construction 

Veneer work 

Lens making 

Cabinet making 

Gas engine operating 



Plumbing 

Machine shop practice 

Cooking 

Dressmaking 

Embroidery 

Millinery 

Shirt waist making 

China decorating 

Lace making 

Architectural drafting 

Blue print reading 

Applied mechanics 

Estimating 

Shop mathematics 

Home nursing and care of children 

Household appliances 

Pure foods and pure food laws 

Public sanitation 

Household chemistry and sanitation 

House decoration 

Costume designing 

Boiler testing 

Power plant maintenance 

Hot water circulation 

Patternmaking 



The following outline of unit lessons as given in the free night 
school for printers' apprentices in Bufifalo is oiYered as an illustra- 
tion of how a system of unit courses primarily intended for people 
who are already connected with a vocation can be made of direct 
and immediate benefit to them. 



ACADEMIC SUBJECTS 

Group I Business English 

General rcviczv of essentials of grannnar: Lessons 

Parts of speech 4 

Sentence structure 3 

Paragraphing and composition 3 

Business letters 2 

Correction of faulty English 2 

Tcch)iical studies relating to printing: 

Rules for capitals 2 

Rules for punctuation marks 4 

Rules for word division 2 

Rules for spelling 2 

Proofreading 2 

Abbreviations i 

Commercial forms 2 



58 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

Group 2 Mathematics 
General review of arithmetic : Lessons 

Drill in fundamental processes I 

Common fractions I 

Decimal fractions i 

Denominate numbers I 

Percentage 2 

Mensuration I 

Technical studies relating to printing: 

Problems in paper-cutting • i 

Measuring composed type I 

Cost estimating lo 

Computing type ] 

Computing number of leads j- i 

Estimating manuscript J 

Personal accounts, time slips, stock reports, etc 1 

Group 3 Science 
Hygiene : 

Food, clothing, shelter 

Personal hygiene 

Sanitation 

Exercise, fatigue, recreation 

Health rules for the worker 

Occupational dangers and accidents 

First aid to the injured 



Physics and chemistry: 

Study of the mechanics of presses, binders, paper cutters, etc 3 

Electricity and its use in the printshop 3 

Heating, lighting and ventilating of workrooms i 

The chemistry of inks, paper, etc i 

Group 4 Economics ' 

History, geography and civics: 

General industrial history, including a study of the progress of man- 
kind from primitive times down to present, touching on early arts 
and handicrafts, division of labor, inventions, guilds, organization 
of labor and capital, collective bargaining, etc 5 

Short biographies of Franklin, Caxton, Morris and other leading 
masters 3 

Commercial and industrial Buffalo and the printing industry in 
Buffalo I 

Duties of citizenship 2 

Our city, state and national governments i 

Group I COMPOSING ROOM WORK 

Printing history 2 

Group 2 

Type cases 6 

Group 3 

Correct spacing 2 

Materials 2 

Group 4 Typesetting 

Preliminary instruction 2 

Group 5 

Simple composition 7 

Proofs 2 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 59 

Group 6 Lessons 

Simple book composition 6 

Distribution i 

Group 7 

Book composition 8 

Group 8 

Type sizes 2 

Type faces 2 

Type names 4 

Group 9 

Discussions of printing processes and allied arts 8 

Group lo Typesetting (tabular) 

Preliminary instruction 2 

Tabular forms 5 

Distribution of tabular forms 2 

Group II Typographical design 

Proportion ' 4 

Balance 3 

Harmony 4 

Lettering 6 

Commercial designing 6 

Group 12 

Composition, j ob 10 

Group 13 

Composition, job 7 

Group 14 

Composition of advertisements. 6 

PRESSROOM WORK 

Group I History of printing 

Machinery I 

Group 2 Presswork 

Mechanical instruction 3 

Feeding (job presses) 2 

Slip-sheeting, bronzing, opening envelops, etc 2 

Washing, cleaning, oiling 2 

Making-ready of plain type forms 6 

Making-ready of plates and type 6 

Making-ready of plates and halftones 8 

Group 3 Imposition 

Elementary principles 2 

Simple forms 2 

Two-page forms 2 

Four-page forms 4 

Six-page folder forms 2 

Eight to thirty-two page forms (each) 4 

Clearing away I 

Group 4 Color study 

Manufacture of ink I 

Care of ink I 

Complementary harmony 2 

Harmony of tints and shades 2 

Harmony of black with other colors 2 

Harmony of primary colors 2 

Harmony of secondary colors 2 

Harmony of tertiary colors 2 

Harmony of primary and secondary colors 2 



60 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

Group 4 Color study (continued) Lessons 

Harmony of secondary and tertiary colors 2 

Harmony of paper and ink 2 

Light and darkness as applied to color 2 

Mixing of colors 5 

Mixing tints 5 

Subduing colors 5 

Special inks and bronzes 3 

Group 5 Paper 

History 2 

Manufacture 2 

Sizes, weights and qualities 2 

Cutting 2 

History of bookbinding I 

Group 6 Rollers 

Manufacture i 

Care i 

DRAWING AND HANDWORK 

Drawing and handwork have been placed upon a firm footing 
during the past four years. In general the aim is twofold: first, 
to provide an efficient means of training in self-expression; second, 
to develop refined taste. Self-expression finds its outlet in drawing 
with the pencil, colored crayon or water color familiar objects, 
specimens studied in nature work, maps and problems in construc- 
tion and decoration. Refined taste is rapidly becoming apparent in 
the general execution of all work and in the work of the drawing 
periods especially. 

RURAL SCHOOLS 

Increased activity in the subjects of drawing and handwork has 
been apparent since the introduction of the present system of rural 
school supervision. The district superintendents are keenly alive 
to the importance of drawing in the country communities. It has 
been given a prominent place on the programs of the various dis- 
trict conferences and earnest efforts on the part of the teachers 
have produced gratifying results. 

The University has issued charts showing possibilities of cor- 
relation with all subjects in the Syllabus for Elementary Schools 
and has published a simplified outline for use in the rural schools. 
In addition, the State specialist in drawing and the chief examiner 
in drawing are constantly participating in numerous rural school 
teachers' gatherings throughout the State. Plans for further as- 
sistance are being formulated in the shape of additional leaflets 
discussing special phases of the general subject. 

The aim of self-expression in these schools can not be so readily 
attained as in larger communities owing to lack of adequate super- 



f 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 6l 

vision and equipment, such as paper and colors and material for 
constructive problems. Expression is limited to pencil drawing 
upon inexpensive paper with a possible addition of colored crayon. 
But taste can be developed here as in any school. Perhaps the most 
vital disjjlay of this desirable attribute may be obtained in the 
decoration of the schoolroom. Here is opportunity to simplify, tint 
and make beautiful a bare or crowded interior — for both extremes 
abound. Attention is already being paid to this important matter 
both within the buildings and on the school grounds. Taste may be 
shown in these schools to greater advantage through various kinds 
of handwork than through drawing. Caring for the school grounds 
and decorating the interior are excellent types of this kind of ex- 
pression. 

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 

The elementary schools as a whole are doing acceptable work 
under the Syllabus for Elementary Schools. The syllabus ade- 
quately covers the work of these schools. It is broad in scope, com- 
prehensive in treatment and is in full accord with modern thought 
upon the subject. 

There is a growing tendency to eliminate the nonessentials in all 
phases of the work. ■ The graphic expression is better in content 
and technic, the design is becoming more practical and is related to 
community needs and the construction is more stable and work- 
manlike. 

With respect to construction or handwork, the general criticism 
would be that there is too little in the schools. Representation may 
be expressed in our public institutions mainly through line draw- 
ing upon paper. Design and construction are quite ditTerent in 
character and demand an outlet through the concrete three-dimen- 
sional product. Light materials, such as paper, thin cardboard and 
cloth in the primary grades should be supplemented by heavier 
materials such as heavy cardboard, wood and sheet metal in the 
upper grades. A close relation should exist between the graphic 
and this material expression and the pupils should early be lead 
to see that they are not only vital to each other but are vital to the 
community at large. Mechanical drafting, shop sketching, map 
drawing, city planning, etc. can easily be conceived by pupils of 
elementary school age and their training should include this applied 
teaching through various forms of manual training. 

Schools in the larger villages and cities are usually under some 
kind of supervision which makes for graded courses and increasingly 



62 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

better work. When this supervision is under the direction of a 
special drawing teacher who has had training for her work, the 
subject is usually successfully handled. But many teachers who 
specialize in drawing have inadequate training and in many schools 
the work is carried on by a regular grade teacher who, unfor- 
tunately, must teach other subjects as well. This difficulty of ob- 
taining proper supervision may be easily solved if a number of 
neighboring villages would unite in hiring a competent supervisor 
to direct the work, her duties consisting of personal visits to each 
village at least once a week. 

SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

Drawing in secondary schools is likewise on a firmer footing than 
ever before. Earlier geometric drawing, mechanical perspective, 
historic ornament and picture copying in free-hand drawing have 
given way to real free-hand drawing from actual objects of com- 
mon types and original design both in motif and application. Less 
emphasis has been placed upon technic and greater emphasis has 
been placed upon correct construction, careful visualization and 
neat, orderly work. In addition, stress is laid upon the application 
of principles of drawing and design to fields outside the drawing 
room, as the sciences, the person, the home, etc. 

In mechanical drawing the actual shop and drafting room con- 
ditions are sought and emphasis is placed upon accuracy, visualiza- 
tion of the object, rapid sketching and fine technic. 

A new drawing syllabus for secondary schools has been prepared, 
carefully outlining all courses and giving all necessary data with 
respect to counts, credits, examinations etc. Advanced work will 
be eliminated from those schools that can not properly provide for 
it and concentrated effort may then be directed toward strengthen- 
ing elementary drawing. 

Unfortunately more than 70 per cent of the high school teachers 
of drawing are untrained. In most of these cases the teacher 
handles from three to nine different subjects, including drawing. 
Colleges do not train students in this subject and as college grad- 
uates are usually employed in academic work, drawing naturally 
suffers. For this reason the elimination of advanced drawing from 
such schools is desirable. 

Pupils should fulfil the requirements for normal school entrance 
without the necessity of electing an advanced subject under this 
scheme. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 63 

The general complaint that pupils entering normal schools are 
unprepared in drawing is in part due to the arrangements of the 
old drawing syllabus, whereby a pupil studied an advanced subject 
in addition to elementary work and was at liberty to elect any one 
of three ofifered. The old scheme provided for not less than three 
years of work scattered over two courses. Arrangements should be 
made to concentrate more work in one course of two years and 
relate the subject matter more closely to the needs of the normal 
school candidate as well as to the average child. 

The aim of the work in representative drawing is to lead pupils 
to a power to show in simple outline and accented drawing the 
appearance of the forms thus studied with reference to the fore- 
shortening of planes and surfaces and the apparent convergence 
of lines. The appearance of every drawing plate is conditioned by 
the excellence of the relations between the size of the sheets and 
the size and placing of the drawing. Training in appreciation by 
the pupil of the excellence of arrangement is a training in good 
taste. 

As an additional aim, the instruction in representative drawing 
seeks to present well-arranged groups of objects as models and to 
emohasize in the drawings made from these groups the principles 
of good size and arrangement. These principles together form 
the study of composition in representative drawing. 

In elementary design, pupils are led to understand the principles 
of variety, balance, rhythm, unity and harmony. Their application 
in a few simple problems should be based upon the home, the per- 
son, the commercial or the industrial center. Classroom discussion 
of the problems leads the pupils to apply the principles learned to 
questions relating to color and design as seen in their surroundings, 
as in the choice of costumes, the arrangement of a room or the 
setting of a table, the planning of a letterhead or poster, the choice 
of furniture, etc. 

The technical work in design (drawing and application of color) 
is required to be nearly done with emphasis primarily upon taste, 
as in the foregoing. 

Instruction in lettering forms a part of each course in design. 
In schools doing commercial work, the major emphasis should be 
placed upon this instruction. 

Mechanical drawing aims to teach the pupil the use of drafting 
instruments and seeks to give him knowledge of projections. In 
addition, the pupil is led to understand thoroughly the procedure 



64 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

in making a correct working drawing, becomes familiar with the 
more common drafting conventions and is led to produce an ac- 
curate and well-executed plate. 

Charts supplementary to the syllabus and outlining definite prob- 
lems in elementary representation and design, mechanical drawing 
I and mechanical drawing 2, upon which examinations were based, 
have proved to be extremely helpful in all the schools. The work 
of the syllabus was so broad and loosely defined that any attempt 
at adequate supervision or reasonable examination was frustrated 
at the start. Charts were therefore devised limiting the work to 
some extent yet providing more than enough for a year's work 
that the teachers might have some choice. As a result, improve- 
m.ent in the work was apparent at the first examination following 
the issuing of the sheets and many requests were made that similar 
charts be provided in advanced drawing. This was not done, pend- 
ing the adoption of a newer syllabus. 

TRAINING CLASSES AND NORMAL SCHOOLS 

During the past year a syllabus in drawing for training classes 
has been prepared by the chief examiner in drawing. This is well 
illustrated and will serve as a direct help during the limited amount 
of time devoted to the subject. It is based directly upon the sylla- 
bus and includes the simplified outline issued for the rural schools. 

The time element is a serious problem for the subject of drawing 
in training classes. Coming in the first half of the year, the work 
is confined to fall nature drawing and is seriously interrupted by 
the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Furthermore, two 
periods for twenty weeks, or forty lessons in this subject, are in- 
adequate. Spring nature work is fully as important as fall draw- 
ing, if not more so, and at least eighty periods should be devoted 
to the subject. Two periods a week should be continued through- 
out the year. 

Since 191 1, conferences with normal school drawing teachers 
have been held in Albany and in Bufi^alo. These meetings have been 
not only helpful to each teacher in attendance but have been pro- 
ductive of correlated charts for grade teachers and specialized 
work in normal courses. 

At the last conference all teachers were gathered in a joini meet- 
ing at Syracuse. Plans were discussed for a proposed normal school 
outline to be tested during the following year. A general topical 
plan was agreed upon and through the assistance of the grade 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 05 

supervisors of Buffalo, subjects were proposed for the year's work. 
The general scheme of a basic plan for normal school drawing was 
heartily indorsed and the next meeting should present carefully 
formulated plans for a comprehensive and elastic normal school 
syllabus based upon the Syllabus for Elementary Schools now in 
use. Such a syllabus will unify and strengthen the normal courses 
which now differ in each school, owing to the broad and extensive 
treatment of the present syllabus. 

The aim of drawing in both training classes and normal schools 
is to prepare teachers for instruction in that subject in the grades. 
The evident lack of training on the part of entering candidates 
necessitates most of the time in normal schools being spent upon 
technical expression. Methods must come through the presentation 
by the normal school instructor. The new secondary syllabus will 
undoubtedly greatly strengthen the preliminary academic training 
in the technic of drawing and design, permitting the normal school 
teacher to devote more attention to methods and classroom prac- 
tice. The syllabus for normal schools should therefore briefly out- 
line fundamental problems in drawing and handwork for the edu- 
cation of the child and define the principles and sequence to be 
■developed in the teaching. 

DRAWING CONFERENCES 

Adequate State supervision by means of constant visitations in 
an attempt to inspect and help the schools has proved to be both 
inadvisable and impossible. Inadvisable because those schools in 
greatest need of assistance were often neglected as the State special- 
ist attempted to make the complete round of schools ; impossible 
because one person could not visit the nine hundred and more 
academic schools, even in three years and with nothing else to do. 
Personal interviews with the teachers are necessary and to meet the 
problem a series of teachers conferences was planned in 191 1. They 
have since been in successful operation. Seventeen centers consist- 
ing of the larger cities have been designated as the places of meet- 
ing and teachers in the surrounding counties gather at the appointed 
■date for the reading of formal papers and for informal discussion 
of perplexing problems with another and with the State representa- 
tive. The conferences are well attended and the teachers have come 
to take a keen interest in their success. 

In addition to the conferences, the State specialist handles an 
extensive correspondence, prepares different kinds of literature 



DO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

relating to the subject, speaks at the various teachers' gatherings 
and travels to many schools in need of direct assistance. Thus the 
general supervision of the drawling and handwork is carried on. 
The State is large and the field is extensive. Progress is therefore 
slow but the work is gradually approaching a stage of unity and is 
surely reaching the point where the more fundamental problems in 
art education will be taught. 

PREPARATION OF DRAWING TEACHERS 

For three years reports have been written concerning the matter 
of the training of drawing teachers in the State normal schools. 
Fredonia Normal School and Potsdam Normal School ofifer special 
courses in this work. The work in Fredonia is unsatisfactory 
though teachers continue to be graduated. The course in Potsdam 
has never been fully organized owing to continued changes in the 
teaching force. Both of these schools should be carefully organized 
and the work should be placed upon a firm footing. 

Reports have also been submitted with reference to the State 
Normal College. Here is opportunity to provide efficient courses for 
professional art teachers for the State. With the present teaching 
force this is impossible. At least six instructors in art work, 
adequate equipment and intensive courses in the teaching of aca- 
demic drawing should be provided. Instruction should then be 
given in drawing, painting, design, modeling and the industrial 
arts. 

MANUAL TRAINING 

Manual training in the State has never been organized or gen- 
erally supervised. As an advanced form of handwork, taught 
rather from the general than the vocational point of view, this work 
should receive early attention. Practical courses of an industrial 
nature should be carefully prepared, related drawing courses should 
be developed and annual conferences for discussion of the various 
problems should be organized. 

DRAWING FOR VOCATIONAL SUBJECTS 

There is urgent need for carefully prepared courses in drawing 
and design for vocational subjects. It has long been recognized 
that the element of art in a manufactured product determines to a 
large extent its money value. In the increasing demand for in- 
dustrial schools, this fact should be constantly kept in mind. Courses 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 6/ 

should be developed along such suggestive lines as follows : con- 
structive design in furniture, decorative design for woodworkers, 
design and color in printing, costume design, color in personal 
dress, drawing for girls, household decoration. 

STATE CONFERENCES 

Next to the problem of securing teachers who are prepared to 
undertake the work of vocational instruction is that of keeping 
those teachers who are already engaged in the work abreast of 
that which is being done by other teachers. With this in view, 
during the past year the specialists within the Division have con- 
ducted, in different sections of the State, conferences which have 
been attended by the teachers, principals and supervisors who were 
actively engaged in vocational instruction in state-aided schools as 
well as those who were interested in cooking, sewing, drawing, 
handwork and such other subjects as have been assigned to the 
work of this Division. 

Following are typical programs for the three lines of work 
represented : 

AGRICULTURE 

An all-day conference was held at the State College of Agricul- 
ture during farmers week. The general topic under consideration 
was the course of study in agriculture. The following program 
indicates the nature of the work : 

Report of committee on 

Dairy husbandry 

Animal husbandry 

Poultry husbandry 

L. A. ToAN, Chairman 
Report of committee on 

Apple growing 

General fruit growing 

F. N. Darling, Chairman 
Report of committee on 

Cereal and forage crops 

Potato growing 

Soils and fertilizers 

Neil J. Parker, Chairman 
Home projects L. S. Hawkins 

As a result of the work of these committees and the opinions ex- 
pressed by the twenty teachers of agriculture present, the suggested 
course of study has been modified by combining some of the half- 
year subjects to make full-year subjects and so allow the work to 
follow the seasons. 
3 



68 



THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 



During the last week of the summer session, a four-day confer- 
ence was held. The program follows : 

Monday Some problems of the small high school 

a Course of study 

b The teaching staff 

c The constituency 
Tuesday Agriculture as a school study 

a Essentials of the course 

b Laboratory and shop equipment 

c Some teaching problems 
Wednesday Home project work 

a Varying conceptions of education 

b Use of home opportunities in education 

c Extension of the educational ideal 
Thursday The teacher of agriculture 

a His qualifications 

b His opportunities 

The general plan of the conference was for the chairman to 
outline the topic and then conduct a round table discussion. 



9 - 
9-30- 



9-30 

12 



12 
1.30 ■ 



1.30 
330 



9 a. m. 
9.30 a. m. 

9.50 a. m. 
10 a. m. 

10.30 a. m. 
10.40 a. m. 

11.40 a. m. 



INDUSTRIAL 

Registration 

Methods of teaching shopwork 

H. B. Smith, State Normal College 
Discussion 
Methods of teaching correlated subjects 

Rose I. Hughes, Albany Vocational School 
Discussion 
Evening school courses 

W. C. Smith, Director, Troy Vocational School 
Discussion 
Luncheon 

Household arts section 
Methods of teaching 
cooking 
Ella C. Hale, Sche- 
nectady Vocational 
High School 
Discussion 
Methods of teaching 

sewing 
Mettie B. Hills, The 
Central School, Troy 
Discussion 
Question box 



Industrial arts section 
Methods of teaching woodwork 
Herbert M. Fish, Hudson Voca- 
tional School 
Discussion 

Methods of correlating mathematics 
and drawing with woodworking 
Eugene D. Fink, Schenectady 
Vocational School 
Discussion 
Question box 



DRAWING 

Registration 

Paper, " Wall paper and floor coverings " 
Miss Cook, Geneva 

Discussion 

Paper, " Psychology of drawing and manual training" 
Doctor Buck, Geneseo Normal School 

Discussion 

Roll call. Short talks by teachers on successful prob- 
lems in drawing and handwork 

Discussion 



12 


a. 


in. — 


I P 


I 


P- 


m. 




1.30 


P- 


m. 




1.40 


P- 


m. 




'-> 


P- 


m. 




2.10 


P- 


m. 




2.50 


P- 


m. 




3 


P- 


m. 





VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 69 

Recess 

Paper, " Metal work with simple apparatus " 

Carl Johnonnot, Mechanics Institute 
Discussion 
Paper, " Meaning and aim of art in education " 

K. B. Farnum, Albany 
Discussion 
Paper, " Pictures for schoolrooms." Illustrated 

Fletcher Carpenter, East High School, Rochester 
Discussion 
Question box. R. B.' Farnum, Albany 

TRAINING OF TEACHERS FOR VOCATIONAL INSTRUCTION 

A new problem is presented by the task of selecting and training 
teachers for vocational instruction. The long established and 
traditional machinery for training teachers will fail to attract or 
select effectively those best fitted to teach in vocational schools. 
New devices must be created to meet the new needs. 

More and more the vocational school is being organized on the 
basis of a recognition of three broad aims — training for industrial 
efficiency, training for citizenship and training for general intelli- 
gence. Undoubtedly as time goes on the classification of subject 
matter will be between that which is vocational, making for skill 
and insight in the industry, and that which is nonvocational, mak- 
ing for better and more intelligent citizenship. Hence vocational 
teachers will need to be trained to give instruction in shopwork, 
drawing, mathematics and other subjects which are intended to 
increase industrial efficiency, and nonvocational teachers will be 
needed to give instruction in subjects which promote general intelli- 
gence, such as civics, commerce, English and general science. 

An efficient scheme for furnishing teachers must include the fol- 
lowing steps : a general experience and equipment of a suitable 
character such as in the case of the trade instructor ; mastery of 
the craft; in the case of the teacher of related subjects, knowledge 
of the craft and adequate academic training; in the case of the 
teacher of general or nonvocational subjects, adequate academic 
training and contact with life. 

The qualifications of the shop instructor will include (a) knowl- 
edge of his trade; (6) knowledge of technical methods in use in 
the trade and command of drawing, mathematics, science and art 
as used in his trade; (c) a general education such as that which 
might be represented by elementary school graduation or its equiva- 
lent ; (rf) a teaching equipment which will give him familiarity with 
technical methods of school administration and the mechanics of 
schoolroom work as applied to shop room tasks and responsibilities ; 



70 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

(e) personal equipment such as will not be a handicap to him in the 
work. 

The qualifications for the nonvocational teacher will include an 
appreciation of the conditions and problems of industry and such 
a knowledge, from the standpoint of the layman at least, of the 
more common machines and processes of the trades taught by the 
school as will enable him: (a) to use material drawn from the 
world of work in teaching such subjects as civics, economics, in- 
dustrial history, English; (b) to utilize the affairs of industry and 
the activities of the shop as a means of promoting the pupil's in- 
terest and insight into the class work; (c) to make practical use of 
principles taught in such subjects as civics and economics, applying 
them to conditions and problems which the pupil as a wage-earner 
must sooner or later meet in industry and in citizenship; (d) to 
understand the aims and purposes of the industrial school in its 
responsibility for the pupil and to the industry; (e) to see clearly 
the relation of his own subject to that of his fellow teachers and the 
place and bearing of his own service on the total service which 
the school undertakes to render to the pupil and to the industry. 

The courses for training teachers in industrial and trade schools 
will in general be of two types : (i) shorter courses like evening and 
and part-time classes where the limited number of hours for instruc- 
tion make it necessary for the class to confine its attention to the 
one problem of giving the prospective teacher a limited introductory 
teaching equipment for these schools and longer courses like those 
possible in all-day classes and (2) longer part-time classes available 
where the time makes it possible not only to give a more extensive 
teaching equipment for entrance to such schools but also supple- 
mentary preparation in such other necessary equipment as the train- 
ing school itself, or thorough cooperative agencies, might give, like 
technical knowledge, additional commercial trade experience, in- 
dustrial, social or civic contacts. 

New York has been the first state in the Union to take up the 
question of training teachers for vocational education. It is doing 
this work in the State Normal College and the State Normal School 
at Buffalo. The formal traditional methods of training teachers, 
has been departed from to some extent in the special departments 
which have been organized for the training of vocational teachers. 
This has been necessary because experience shows that any in- 
stitution which represents the final stage of a continuous educational 
process, beginning at childhood, can not draw to any great extent 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 7I 

upon the wage-earners of any kind for its students. Such schools 
can not get trade-trained men, or give the proper trade training in 
the school. Normal schools are not usually organized to give 
actual shop experience, but rather for manual training preparation. 
If they were so organized as to give manipulative skill in all the 
processes of the trade, they would not give it to those expecting 
to use it for wage-earning, but rather as one of a number of teach- 
ing assets. It is not practical for such schools to give the novice 
progressive experience under actual trade experience. 

The most pronounced success in these two institutions has been 
with the vocational school instruction where men have been taken 
who have had trade experience and are being trained in evening 
classes for advantageous entrance to industrial and trade schools. 
The design is to reach promising candidates among the workers and 
to give them teaching equipment while they are making a living. 
The advantages of the plan are clear. The student suffers no loss of 
wage. Sacrifice of time and energy necessary to attend such a class 
constitutes in itself an efifective method of selecting promising men 
for training. It gives a large source of supply from which to choose 
students. It is the consensus of opinion that the evening training 
schools for trade workers form the one plan which promises most 
immediate relief and the possibility of reaching and training a large 
supply of trade workers to meet present and future demands. 

An evening school for training practical mechanics for teaching 
their trades in the vocational schools of the State is now in opera- 
tion in the State Normal College. Eighteen men, all the school can 
accommodate at present, have registered. These men are selected 
only on the recommendation of the employer and on personal appli- 
cation. Four trades are represented in the teaching: machinist, 
plumber, cabinetmaker and patternmaker. The classes meet on 
Tuesday and Thursday evenings between the hours of 7.15 and 
9.30 for forty weeks. Five courses are offered : mechanics of 
teaching, shop mathematics, mechanics of drawing for each trade, 
shop practice and practice teaching. It is proposed next year to 
establish such relationship with the evening schools as will make 
it possible for these night school men to obtain practice teaching 
under supervision in the evening vocational schools. 

The evening school department of the State Normal School at 
Buffalo is continuing with marked success its venture of last year 
into the field of training practical mechanics, who are employed 
during the dav, to become vocational school teachers. The work 



^2 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

in this school covers the same ground as the day normal school 
training teachers of vocational work and it is possible for a good 
student to complete the course in three years if he is a master of 
his trade. This department has 76 mechanics ; 8 per cent are high 
school graduates ; 25 per cent attended high school but did not 
graduate ; 67 per cent attended evening school prior to entering the 
normal evening school. Forty per cent of these men are regularly 
employed as foremen, 13 per cent have had some experience as 
foremen and the remainder are regularly employed as journeymen. 
The School of Science and Technology connected with Pratt In- 
stitute has this year developed an evening course in trade teaching 
for trade workers who wish to become teachers. The class is 
taught by a man who has had extended experience as a teacher in 
an industrial school and as a director of one of the leading 
Massachusetts schools. The class meets three nights a week, two 
nights being devoted to instruction in methods of teaching industrial 
school and the third night to actual practice teaching in the New 
York Evening Trade School under the supervision of the instructor 
of the class. To be eligible to the class, the applicant must give satis- 
factory evidence that he is a successful journeyman or foreman in 
his trade; he must be in good health and less than forty years of 
age. No entrance examinations are required but the instructor of 
the class must be satisfied by a personal interview that the applicant 
is fitted to undertake the work. It is readily seen that such a 
scheme for training teachers already employed gives the journeymen 
an opportunity to find out before they give up their work whether 
they will like teaching and are adapted to it. It puts them in touch 
wnth teaching positions and provides them with a training and teach- 
ing experience necessary to make them eligible for the position of 
trade teaching in the vocational schools. 

TYPES OF COOPERATION NOW EXISTING 
It is evident that the basis of all successful vocational teaching 
must rest upon a close cooperation between the school, the em- 
ployee and the employer. The outgrowth of this relationship must 
be an agreement that will clearly define certain conditions sur- 
rounding the work of the school ; the length of apprenticeship train- 
ing and credit for work done in school and rate of pay during such 
apprenticeship. Such a working agreement divides the responsi- 
bility of the apprenticeship training and offers an incentive for the 
boy to enter a certain line of work. 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 73 

The following agreement is very significant in that it clearly de- 
fines the length of the apprenticeship course, the length of time 
to be spent in school, and the rate of pay during the period of 

I apprenticeship. This agreement is one of several types that in- 
clude the same fundamentals. 

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ROCHESTER TYPOTHETAE AND THE 
ROCHESTER SHOP SCHOOL 

The term of apprenticeship in the printing trade shall be four years, three 
i months of which shall consist of a preliminary or " try-out " course at the 
■ Rochester Shop School. During this preliminary course the fitness of the 
pupil for the printing trade shall be determined. 

Upon completing this preliminary course, the pupil may enter the employ- 
ment of some printing plant as an apprentice, the Typothetae agreeing to 
provide places for a certain number of pupils each year. The apprentice 
' shall alternate weekly between the shop school and said printing plant, and 
is to receive from the employer a weekly wage of $4 for the balance of the 
1 first six months ; $4.50 for the second six months ; $5 for the third six 
i months ; and $5.50 for the fourth six months. The employer is to pay wages 
' for the school time as well as for shop time. 

After this period, having faithfully performed his duties, he may devote 
the remainder of his apprenticeship entirely to the shop, and for which he 
shall receive $9 a week for the first six months; $10 a week for the second 
six months; $11 a week for the third six months; and $12 a week for the 
fourth six months, during which time, however, he shall be considered under 
the supervision of the shop school, and upon completion of the school term 
and apprenticeship, having passed all the examinations and being graduated 
from the shop school, he shall receive from the employer as a gratuitous 
bonus, in addition to his salary and not as any part thereof, the sum of $100. 

The following is a copy of the resolutions adopted by the execu- 

[ tive committee of the Master Printers Association at their meeting 

June 2^, 191 2: 

Whereas, A detailed plan for the formation of a central continuation school 
for the benefit of boys desirous of learning the printing trade, and for the 
further advancement of apprentices at present employed in printing offices, 
has been presented by the superintendent of vocational education of the city 
of Buffalo; be it resolved that this association is heartily in favor of such 
movement and pledges to it, its active and moral support; and be it further 
resolved that we recommend all our members to send their apprentices to 

' such school for at least a half day each week without deduction of pay for 

I time spent during such instruction. 

The Rochester Chamber of Commerce appointed a committee to 
submit a plan of education for the machine industries. This report 
was recently unanimously adopted by its executive committee. A 
portion of this report is quoted in order to make clear the possibili- 
ties of close economic and technical relationship between the em- 
ployers and the school people : 

I That the shop school shall give to boys who are not less than 14 years 
old and have completed at least the sixth grade, or preferably to boys who 
have completed the work of the elementary schools, a general industrial or 



74 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

" try-out " course of such length as the school authorities may deem neces- 
sary, and shall select those who have aptitude for and an ambition toward 
the trade of machinist. 

2 That the shop school shall give boys thus selected a preparatory course 
of approximately two years, one-half of each day being spent in shop prac- 
tice and the other half in the study of shop mathematics, mechanical drawing, 
applied science, industrial history, civics and English. 

3 That upon the satisfactory completion of this course the metal trades 
employers of Rochester shall employ these boys in such numbers as trade 
conditions and shop management shall warrant at the following schedules, of 
wages : $9 a week for the first six months ; $10 a week for the second six 
months; $11 a week for the third six months; $12 a week for the fourth 
six months. 

Note. — In the event of any boys earning by piece work more than the 
above scale, the balance shall be held back by the employer and paid to the 
boy as a bonus at the completion of the two years' apprenticeship. 

4 That during the two years' apprenticeship the employer shall allow each 
boy, during working hours, an amount of time off equivalent to one-half 
day each week, for continuing his studies, such time to be taken when manu- 
facturing conditions will best permit. 

5 That the first three months of employment, as provided in articles 3 and 
4, shall be considered a probationary period and the diploma of the school 
shall not be awarded until the satisfactory completion of this probationary 
period. 

6 That the members of the machine industry shall select a committee of 
three of their number who shall (i) inspect frequently the work of the 
shop school and offer criticisms and suggestions for the improvement of 
the work; (2) suggest tests that shall measure the pvipil's progress in manipu- 
lative skill and technical knowledge; (3) suggest tests that shall measure 
the qualifications of boys for graduation. 

THE MOVEMENT FOR VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE 

Vocational guidance as a part of the vocational education move- 
ment has made considerable progress in the past year. The pro- 
gram of effort includes a survey of social needs as represented by 
occupational activities, which means the intensive study of occupa- 
tions, including their problems, needs, limitations and possibilities 
for workers within them ; the study of human capacity or talent in 
relationship to its development in rendering a maximum of social 
service through occupational activities which includes an intensive 
study of individuals whereby there may be discovered their capaci- 
ties, possibilities, and limitations for efficient service through the 
respective occupations ; and the provision of means by which the 
appropriate adjustment of discovered capacity to needs and oppor- 
tunities for its appropriate use may be made. 

Its methods in education are as follows : 
A Vocational education survey 

I Studies of the vocations with reference to the qualities and 
training- demanded 



VOCATIONAL SCHOOLS 75 

a Sex of the employees 

b Qualities needed for success — physical, mental 
c Age of possible entrance to various vocations 
d Minimum training for successful entrance 
e Opportunities for training within the vocation 
/ Training needed not provided within the vocation 
g Weaknesses in education apparent in beginners 
(i) In general education 

(2) In special training 

(3) In attitude, responsiveness, adaptability etc. 

2 Studies of children and young people with reference to the 

discovery of vocational aptitudes and fitness ; vocational 
analysis. 

3 Possibilities of a vocational index. 

a Through the regular school subjects 
b By specialized tests 
B Meeting the situation revealed by the survey 

I Functions and, possibilities of the school with reference to 
vocational direction and training 
a Prevocational activities 

( 1 ) Vocational analysis 

(2) Vocational information: (a) the data included 

under Ai above; (b) other factors such as de- 
mands for workers, wages, length of day, length 
of season, opportunities for advancement, risks 
of life, limb and health, social conditions and 
opportunities of workers, etc. 

(3) Dififerentiated work bearing upon a group of 

prospective vocations, familiarizing pupils with 
related subject matter, underlying principles, and 
appreciable technical and practical elements. 
(General industrial school) 

(4) Specific vocational training for pupils sufficiently 

mature. (Trade school) 
b Continuation work after employment is begun 
(i) Supplementary education and training 
(2) Follow-up studies 
2 Agencies auxiliary to the school in adjusting vocational 
aptitudes and fitness with vocational opportunities. 
a Vocation bureaus ; placement 
b Vocational advisers and counselors 



76 THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

3 The economic factor in securing adequate prevocational 
education for prospective workers and further educa- 
tion for youthful employees. Provision for the re- 
moval of economic necessity of premature withdrawal 
from school to enter vocations. Budget studies, scholar- 
ships, pensions, part-time school plans. 
C The unification of possibilities and methods for a constructive 
attack in solving the problems in vocational guidance. 



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